The Quest for the Spiritual Self: Anti-Capitalist and Neo-Liberal Forms of Spirituality in Contemporary Romania

Abstract

In line with socio-anthropological theories meant to deconstruct the secularization teleology (Berger, 1997; Luckmann, 1967; Shah, 2015), this paper aims to document recent transformations in the field of Spirituality and Religion. Inheriting the analytical dichotomy between neo-liberal and anti-capitalist forms of spirituality, introduced by Carette and King (2005), I aim to emphasize both the common points and the ruptures between the subjectification technologies used within transformative self-development and self-help programmes, on the one hand, and a form of alternative Neo-Pagan spirituality, which opposes the capitalist way of organizing social, economic, political and cultural life, on the other hand. The rupture between anti-capitalist and neo-liberal forms of spirituality rests on identifying the extent to which the spiritual domain is colonized by an economically mundane ideology, in which the subject is invited to look upon spirituality as an internal resource meant to satisfy all the tropes of the neo-liberal economic imagery: optimization, efficiency, amplified productivity, abundance and prosperity. In addition to the ethnographic justification of this theoretical construct that supports the existence of two opposed poles of constituting a spiritual self, I will adjoin the cultural relationship between spirituality and capitalism to the wider problem of secularization, by arguing that spirituality is a byproduct of late modernity and a leitmotif of the power technologies through which the neo-liberal subject is produced. 2

Religious change in Orthodox-majority Eastern Europe: from Nation-State to Global-Market

“…It is remarkable how quick both anti-and pro-capitalist (or neoliberal) brands of New Age were embraced in Eastern Europe, which had been largely (but not totally) isolated from this history until the collapse of communism. While New Age spiritualities that retain a critical edge towards capitalism and consumerism have flourished in the margins of Eastern European societies (Palaga, 2016), a capitalist-friendly brand of New Age has blossomed in professional domains that have ensured it a much higher level of impact within the mainstream. The difference between these two brands of New Age lies in the emphasis placed by the latter on the sole individual at the expense of communal bonds and wider social issues.…”

Questioning the Secularization Theleology: Zalmoxianism and the Re-Enchantment of the World

“…The second goal of this paper is to ethnographically document the means through which the social actor of late modernity selects one or several religious motifs, bestowing unto them meaning, substance, habits, rites and rituals, thus creating an "invisible religion" (Luckmann 1967, p. 72)-a personal and intimate system of ultimate significations, which is neither understandable nor accessible in the macro-culture. Zalmoxianism, a neo-Pagan movement aiming at rebuilding the ethnic Romanian religion and spirituality through a process of reconnection to their ancient Dacian and Thracian roots (Palaga 2016;Hubbes and Bakó 2011), constitutes such an invisible religion. I will lay the basis for an ideal type of the Zalmoxian neo-Pagan counterculture, a construct meant to approximate empiric reality by rigorously selecting and structuring scattered religious and cultural elements into a group of communalities.…”

Neo-liberal subjectivities and the emergence of spiritual entrepreneurship: An analysis of spiritual development programs in contemporary Romania

“…that increasingly spread within popular urban culture. Hundreds of new Romanian books are published each year on spiritual wellbeing, mindfulness and inner healing, new blogs are launched together with podcasts, newspapers and TV programs that promote personal and spiritual development as an important component of everyday life (Simionca, 2016;Palaga, 2016;Tobias, 2016;Trifan, 2015). But what is more indicative of these changes is the fact that these alternative spiritualities are not only a growing part of popular urban culture, but have been institutionalized within certain professional fields in Romania such as psychology and management.…”