Religion, the i-zation of society and COVID-19

Abstract

With the advancement of new technologies, instrumental rationality, as described by Weber and Ritzer, has been carried further towards the self in a process described as the i-zation of society. This is in elective affinity with the expansion of digital capitalism which is aligned with recent global and transnational developments. Religion has not been left untouched and has adapted itself, if not embraced, these changes brought by neoliberalism. This article argues that with the advent of COVID-19, we can observe an acceleration and intensification of these affinities which are currently further altering the religious ‘digitalscape’.