Abstract
The traditional discourse of wellbeing in Latin America reflects the indigenous understanding of wellbeing as ‘living well together’. In this sense wellbeing is defined as a harmonious relationship between human beings, nature and the wider cosmos. Recently, however, this traditional concept is impacted by a shift to taking control of one’s life and the imperative of leading a ‘good life’. Spiritual practices that are seen as increasing a sense of wellbeing have become a commodity. This chapter looks at the impact of these changes on the perception of wellbeing. The focus is on Brazil which went through a wide reaching social and economic transformation in the recent decades that led to growing secularisation and consequently individualisation. By comparing different perceptions of wellbeing, the chapter illustrates the impact of neoliberal thinking in Brazil. It argues that while the traditional perception of wellbeing as relational is still widespread throughout Brazil, there is a growing trend to a neoliberal perception of wellbeing which promotes the privatization of religion and health.
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Notes
- 1.
Aureliano also points out that the integration of complementary practices started even before the launch of PNPIC and mentions the recognition of homeopathy by the Federal Council of Medicine in the 1980s. However, it was only in 1999 that homeopathy together with acupuncture were added to the SUS (Aureliano, 2011: 183).
- 2.
Excerpts from the surveys are referenced with a number, age and gender while the interviewees are identified only with an alias that reflects their gender self-identification.
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Schmidt, B.E. (2022). The Entanglement of Spirituality, Wellbeing and ‘Spiritual Economy’ in Brazil: The Shift from ‘Living Well Together’ to ‘Leading a Good Life’. In: Mossière, G. (eds) New Spiritualities and the Cultures of Well-being. Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06263-6_8
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