Globalization, religion and empire of Asia

Bryan S. Turner

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    Abstract

    ![CDATA[Religion as an aspect of globalization has been neglected by sociological theory, which has concentrated primarily on the economic, financial and military aspects of the process. Those sociologists who have considered religious aspects of globalization have focused narrowly on the issue of fundamentalism. Furthermore, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism is often regarded as the principal consequence of religious globalization. In these perspectives on religious change, religious fundamentalism is defined simply as traditionalism, because it is seen to be anti-modern. This view, for example, pervades “The Globalization Reader” (Lechner and Boli, 2004: 326– 360). There is obviously evidence to show how fundamentalism has attempted to contain the growth of cultural hybridization, to sustain religious authority and orthodoxy, and in particular to curb the growth of women’s social and political autonomy. But this view of global fundamentalism as the re-assertion of traditionalism is questionable for two main reasons. Firstly, fundamentalist movements employ the full-range of modern means of communication and organisation, and secondly they are specifically anti-traditionalist in rejecting the taken-for-granted assumptions of traditional practice (Turner, 2003). In Islam, since the formation of the Muslim Brothers in the 1920s, fundamentalists have consistently rejected traditional religion, specifically Sufim, and persistently defined themselves by reference to the Salafis, that is to reformist modernization (Hasan, 2006).]]
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationReligion, Globalization and Culture
    EditorsPeter Beyer, Lori G. Beaman
    Place of PublicationThe Netherlands
    PublisherBrill
    Pages145-166
    Number of pages22
    ISBN (Electronic)9789047422716
    ISBN (Print)9789004154070
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

    Keywords

    • globalisation
    • religion

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