Old gods,new world: Theoretical advances in the marketization and the consumption of religion

Abstract

In this editorial on the special issue of the contemporary consumption of religion, we unpack the spectrum of continuity and changes in the theorization of the consumption and function of religion in marketing and consumer research. We explain how the papers in this special issue extend theory by bringing new answers to old and new questions, and still leave us with many new questions for future research.

While studies in philosophy and the other foundational social science disciplines have long explored religion and its ambiguous, oppositional, and symbiotic relationship with the market (Appau and Yang, 2023; Haddorff, 2000), scholarship on religion and consumption in the field of marketing and consumer research found its momentum only in the last four decades. Perhaps the one condition that is fueling the evolving and growing theories in this space is change itself. For, indeed, the world is ever-changing even if it appears that much remains the same—this phenomenon is particularly germane as it relates to religion. At least, not since the Second World War has the global public consciousness and collective memory been so dichotomous in its temporal demarcation of lived experiences as the accepted reality of the pre- and post-pandemic world. Few would debate the fact that times have changed fundamentally post-pandemic (Mandalaki et al., 2022).

In 2021, when we originally announced the call for papers for this special issue, we did so with the intention to catalyze theories that would advance our understanding of contemporary consumption of religion. At that juncture, we were living under very different social conditions from just a year before and the year before that. Indeed, at the end of 2019, one might have surmised from research in this space that we were in the golden age of consumer spirituality (Husemann and Eckhardt, 2019), which had taken the baton seamlessly from the golden age of research on the consumption of the sacred and secular in marketing (starting with Belk et al., 1989). The consumption of religion and consumer religiosity, ever the “traditional” old bastion, remained of interest (Appau et al., 2020; Engelland, 2014; Izberk-Bilgin, 2012; Jafari and Sandikci, 2016 Rauf et al., 2018). However, it was overshadowed by the interest of an academy that was more focused on the implications of the decline of institutional religion in the West, the rise of consumer spirituality, and the “silent takeover” of religion by the market (Carrette and King, 2005; Husemann and Eckhardt, 2019; McAlexander et al., 2014; Rinallo et al., 2013).

As such, this special issue was timely as it aimed to engage research on the consumption of religion under the backdrop of the global pandemic—an unprecedented time when lockdowns, social distancing, and other institutional changes forced us to rethink and redo life as we knew it. Indeed, this was a time when religious institutions, consumer religiosity, and the consumption of religion more broadly were not only being challenged but were also being forced to adapt and respond to rapturous social changes (Kapoor et al., 2022; Moufahim et al., 2023). The call for papers was, thus, framed in a manner to invite research that aided our understanding of how the consumption of religion had (not) changed and been shaped by the radical transformations to social reality that we were witnessing, which punctuated the cultural inertia that preceded the pandemic.

However, before we delve into the slew of changes that we believe were, are, and would continue to shape theorization about the consumption of religion across different periods and religions going forward, let us first pay homage to the one major condition that appears to remain the same as it is the anchor around which we understand the myriad changes. We refer, of course, to the obvious permanence of conflicting—if not ironic—logics of “the market” and “religion.” In theorizing religion and any related notions, a researcher is inevitably trying to locate logic through empirics in a sphere of social life in which consumers often defy logic. Religion is a belief and action system that promotes spirituality (O’Brien, 2017) and, in turn, spirituality incorporates belief in a supernatural realm beyond the ordinary observable world (Schuurmans-Stekhoven, 2014). Thus, often the worldviews and orientations that guide the consumption of religion seem to conflict with those that guide everyday market consumption (Ozanne and Appau, 2019). While this irony is not necessarily always true, as pointed out by various marketing scholars (Belk et al., 1989; Rauf and Prasad, 2023; Rinallo et al., 2013), we could argue that meaning is the glue that acts as a linchpin to understand both. Many consumers use religion to derive meaning in and for their lives (Edgell, 2012; Husemann and Eckhardt, 2019) just as others do so by using consumption objects. Moreover, if some objects are considered integral to religious pursuits, the material may in itself serve as a spiritual outlet (Cosgel and Minkler, 2004; Rauf, 2022a).

Despite this apparent conflict of logics, theory and empirics suggest that religion and the market have always been interlaced in a plethora of ways (Appau, 2021; Haddorff, 2000; Ozanne and Appau, 2019; Scott, 2009). Religion diffuses into the marketspace and marketing diffuses into religious space in subtle and ostensible ways. For instance, research illuminates how religion and marketing both exhibit similar tendencies to brand, story-tell, target, and garner loyalty (Taylor and Einstein, 2022); and, sometimes, the two function in tandem to achieve such ends (Appau and Yang, 2023). The phenomenon of the marketization of religion is now commonly accepted in the marketing and consumer research literature (Gauthier and Martikainen, 2020; McAlexander et al., 2014). We also have examples of how profane items can have spiritual meanings for devoted consumers (Muniz and Schau, 2005; Belk et al., 1989) as well as contemporary forms of consumer spirituality. This body of research underlies what is a theoretical constant: the consumption of and in religion and the market may appear to be drawn from conflicting logics and yet remain umbilically linked in historical and contemporary social and consumer lives. Herein lies the inevitable value of this special issue.

Now, we turn our attention to the winds of changes that appear to be shaping this poled flag of constancy. Using a spectrum approach, we outline some of our ideas that span the ends of what we thought were possible dimensions for future research in this domain. While there could be other possible spectra (e.g., local to global and micro to macro), we focus here on key changes in the three very broad domains in this body of research and chart a way into how we believe the field could move forward.

A spectrum of the changes in religion

Religion, one of the most critical institutions to shape human life and consumption, maintains its presence in myriad social and phenomenological processes. Traditionally, consumers have aligned themselves with structured and organized forms of religion (Rauf et al., 2018). Notable and popular forms of such religions include the mainstream monotheistic religions (Christianity and Islam) as well as polytheistic religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Large swathes of consumers still adhere to such religions, which prescribe how to conduct everyday life (Rauf et al., 2018; Sandikci, 2018, 2021). Traditional religious consumers are bound by the values of the religion to which they ascribe (Rauf et al., 2018; Rauf and Prasad, 2020). While research in the field has informed extant understandings of the phenomenon, there remains much potential to further unpack the nuances in how consumers abide by religion, the meanings they attach to various religious consumption rituals, and, in doing so, account for how religion remains relevant in the face of ongoing socio-cultural changes.

It is equally important to recognize that traditional religions themselves may change due to marketization (McAlexander et al., 2014). Religious marketing has grown at high speeds and scales, harnessing technologies to market itself using digital symbols and images to attract new audiences (Taylor and Einstein, 2022). Accordingly, we need a greater understanding of how social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram market religion to new audiences by, for example, offering short and readily consumable snippets of religious videos and sound-bites.

Another effect to consider is detraditionalization (McAlexander et al., 2014). According to Boeve (2005: 104-105):

Detraditionalization, as a term, hints at the socio-cultural interruption of traditions […] which are no longer able to hand themselves on from one generation to the next […] On the structural level, every individual is charged with the task of constructing his or her personal identity. Traditions no longer automatically steer this construction process, but are only possibilities together with other choices from which an individual must choose.

Hence, the plurality in spiritual choices contests with what had previously been codified religious structures. Therefore, at the other end of the spectrum, consumers are at liberty, in a sort of liquid modernity, to opt for more individualized forms of religion or spirituality (Bardhi and Eckhardt, 2017). Contemporary society offers choose-your-own morality options to consumers (Alexander, 2006; Rauf et al., 2018). In such liquid forms of spiritual offerings (Husemann and Eckhardt, 2019), consumers are guided by new forms of judgments and heuristic codes in order to act in moral ways. Nevertheless, as Winchester (2008) observes, the self is embroiled in socio-cultural explanations of what is one’s reason for being or how to conduct properly everyday social (and religious) life. Qualitative religious consumer research is aptly suited to expose theoretical substance on this front.

A spectrum of changes in marketplace and consumer behavior

A second spectrum spans the perpetually changing marketplaces and consumer actions that change the relationship of consumers with their existing belief systems. Considerable consumer research with regard to religion is based in the pre-digital age, but even so, we have yet to map the theoretical canvas in such conditions where religion is conservatively and traditionally experienced even today. Our explorations need to study more deeply religio-socio-cultural happenings ala Durkheim to uncover the rationale and “magic” that compels consumer devotion to religion.

Furthermore, we are still a fair intellectual distance away from fully theorizing how extant religion will pan out in a modern marketplace where digital technologies such as the metaverse, ChatGPT, and AI-based consumption have increasing effects on consumers’ religious lives. While traditional religious consumers are bound by hierarchy in traditional religious structures, how does modern consumption where technology becomes integral to social life interfere with extant religious values and practice? There is room to understand how consumers’ modes of practice adapt, reject, or replace traditional ones where consumers of newer generations are brought up using TikTok, WhatsApp, and Snapchat for large parts of their day and where older consumers try to keep up with rapid changes in consumption-scapes, service-scapes, and the like. How is spirituality attained in a digitalized world and what does digital spirituality mean, if there is such a phenomenon? The future is primed to produce much more provocative research in this space.

On the flip side, how do firms and brands shape their offerings for evolving religious consumers? How are consumer loyalties for digital brands maintained when transitioning from offline to online? What are the dynamics of religious communities and their relationship with the marketplaces? And how do religious structures and practices emerge and evolve differently among new online brand communities and brand publics (Muniz and Schau, 2005)?

On another front, unexpected global events such as COVID-19, global warming, and the crisis in Palestine bring unprecedented situations for religion and its interplay with brands. How do consumers react in such situations and what boundary conditions are tested during such events? Such unexpected events have strong implications on consumer lives and modern marketplace offerings (for instance, the boycott of French products in Islamic states such as Pakistan). A layer of complexity is added with increased globalization (Sharifonnasabi et al., 2020) and transitional and permanent movement of consumers from one country to another (Levitt, 2007). Hence, there is an urgent need to revisit and comprehend the historical work on religion in the marketplace and religious identities.

A spectrum of evolving theories relating to religion and consumption

Given the aforementioned changes to religion-scapes and consumption-scapes, we also believe there is a dire need to address our extant understanding with relevant constructs and theories. In highlighting this dimension of intervention to existing literature, we advocate both enabled as well as emergent theories (Figueiredo et al., 2017). Conventional usage of sociological theories has allowed us to advance religious consumption knowledge (e.g., Bourdieu in understanding ex-Mormons [McAlexander et al., 2014]; Douglas in Tablighi Jamaat sacred spaces [Rauf, 2022b]).

While we do not necessarily favor embedded theories over emergent theories or vice versa, we do encourage scholars to consider the view that Belk and Sobh (2018) have asserted in having us pursue original sociological consumer theory. In urging us to develop new emergent theories from scratch or through a combination of theorizing and abductive reasoning, Belk and Sobh (2018) advise us to strategically look at theory development in our field. This, they claim, is critical to invigorate our field in a world where technology could supposedly dampen theory consideration. The authors also demand that we reinvestigate existing explanations of phenomena in light of more suitable theoretical arguments or even multiple theories. Rauf (2022d) has suggested data sharing as a possible way in which this could be done.

Fischer and Guzel (2023) have illustrated how new conceptual contributions can be made to psychology through CCT-type research. We see this as an important point for understanding constructs in religious consumption. In traditional settings, scholars need to chart concepts such as spirituality and transcendence where consumers resist marketization in a Burning-Man type everyday existence (Kozinets, 2002). In more novel scenarios, new constructs related to digitalization and marketization need to be unraveled where religion may advocate or hinder such moves (e.g., Rauf, 2022c). In a similar vein, new relationships between religious consumption constructs may need to be mapped out or explained more cogently (e.g., family, identity, ritual, or gender). This may help us to unveil boundary conditions to existing theoretical explanations. We urge scholarship in understanding religious belief, social life, and practice in this regard.

Old (new) problems, new ideas: Introduction to the papers in this special issue

When we originally conceived the idea for this special issue a few years ago, we reflected on what the field had achieved to date and considered where more work remained. We wanted to establish a space for deep, theoretically grounded engagement with the study of the consumption and the marketization of religion, which would meaningfully advance the field.

We, as the guest editors of this special issue, were located on three different continents and come from three different religious backgrounds. This diversity is also reflected in the seven papers included in this special issue. We would be remiss not to thank the immediate past and current Marketing Theory editorial team for supporting this special issue without whom this special issue would not have come to fruition. Indeed, much appreciated is the work of our reviewers who gave us their expertise and voluntary time in a temporally accelerated age where time is a supremely prized asset. The reviewers’ incisive analyses and constructive comments paved the way for excavating the full potential of the accepted articles.

We also congratulate the authors on producing work that will lead the academic study of religion and consumption towards new frontiers. We were thrilled that there was a lot of interest in religion and consumption. If ever there was evidence to debunk the secularization thesis, then the number of submissions made in response to the call for papers might fiercely count as some. We initially received a total of 33 submissions for this issue. This figure emphasizes that future real estate in this space is warranted. We received a number of excellent submissions to which space did not allow us to accept, and we hope that after refinement, those manuscripts will one day find a path to publication.

We begin this special issue editorial with two papers that focused on how the pandemic affected the consumption of religion. When a global pandemic hits and disrupts all social institutions in very salient ways, we are left to ask: Which institutions can religious consumers lean on to make sense of their disrupted world? In “Institutional complexity and consumer wellbeing: Navigating the conflicting logics of religion, state, and market during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ozlem Sandikci, Berna Tarı Kasnakoğlu, and Şahver Omeraki Çekirdekci examine Turkish consumers from an institutional logics lens. The authors examine how religious consumers navigate religion within the chaotic and complex arena of the coronavirus pandemic. This empirical study enables the authors to move beyond an insular focus on religion and its effects on well-being to broach a broader perspective on how religious logics compete with other logics. The study illuminates how a clash of logics instigates challenges to identity and legitimacy as well as well-being. The authors also discuss how consumers navigate and resolve these complexities in the face of heightened anxiety amid the atypical scenario of the pandemic.

The pandemic also changed the market and the consumption of religion, as it did many other spheres of life, by forcing the adoption of digital and virtual technology. Like work, religious gatherings, services, and experiences had to go online as social mobility and travel were prohibited or otherwise limited. This abrupt transition raised many practical and theoretical questions. In a conceptual undertaking titled “The hybrid authenticity of virtual pilgrimage,” Mai Khanh Tran and Andrew Davies uncover the subtleties associated with virtual pilgrimages and their relationship to authenticity. In a foray into the digital space, the authors question how perceivable transcendence is possible in digital realms and suggest a variety of possible authenticities using a conceptual hybrid authenticity framework. Under this exposition of interdependent constructs, the authors argue that in contemporary digital religious domains, iconic authenticity facilitates a more liquid attachment to object-based authenticity. Being virtual also poses the importance of place in religious transcendence, a space where technology facilitates embodied experiences. Moreover, they show how interpersonal and intrapersonal authenticity are critical components of a spiritual virtual experience. In sum, the authors contend that under the conditions of virtual spirituality, consumers negotiate authenticity through discursive engagements.

On this matter of authenticity in the consumption of religion, Zeeshan Rafiq and Susan Dunnett investigate how changes in religious and ethnic orientations of different generations within immigrant communities affect the perceived authenticity of religious rituals. The authors focus on the British Pakistani Muslim community in the United Kingdom where second and subsequent generations of British Muslims are beginning to redefine and challenge their religious and ethnic identities. Findings from interviews and observations indicate that religion has become the primary marker of identity, surpassing ethnic identity. Through a process of reciprocal socialization, the first generation is learning a form of Islam from the younger generations that is free from prior cultural constraints. The paper illustrates how and why certain rituals are considered inauthentic and subsequently abandoned. The findings suggest that questioning the authenticity of rituals allows individuals to assert their agency against ethnic norms and ideologies that conflict with their developing religious identities. The study introduces the concept of “emergent inauthenticity” to explain this phenomenon and accounts for the roles of boundary work and contamination in the authentication and rejection of rituals. This paper reminds us of the many changes in the contemporary consumption of religion that religious consumers contended with before the pandemic and continue to contend with in its aftermath, which require more scholarly attention.

While on the issue of the persistence of rituals and specifically how certain religious structures and practices resist adaptation to contemporary times, Rohit Varman and Kanika Meshram unveil the underbelly and dark sides of religious tradition on contemporary consumer lives. In their articles, “The Making of Negative Being: Religion, Humiliation, and Consumer Vulnerability,” the authors examine the persistence of the Indian caste system by drawing from the lived experiences of Sharankumar Limbale, a Dalit or outcaste, as portrayed in his autobiographical memoir, “The Outcaste.” By analyzing Limbale’s narratives, they critically unpack how religion transforms consumption into a source of humiliation for Dalits. The authors explain how this can produce a “negative being,” which casts some people as polluted individuals, and forced into degrading consumption practices. The study emphasizes the need to recognize the category of negative being within consumer research, as its absence leaves the extreme vulnerability of certain consumer groups largely misunderstood. This article is also a reminder of the urgency to investigate and address how religion can contribute to the perpetuation and reinforcement of extreme consumer vulnerability even in contemporary times (also see Zulfiqar and Prasad, 2022).

One well-noted phenomenon shaping contemporary consumption of religion is marketization, and in the paper “Religion in neoliberal times: The global spread of marketization, implications for religion, and future research directions,” authors Elif Izberk-Bilgin and Russell Belk provide a review of key conversations on this issue. A key part of their review article highlights how global marketization is changing the consumption of religion outside the center of the United States and Western Europe, which often dominates this research. In this direction, the authors synthesize a range of different studies and observations to classify four ways in which marketization diffuses into religious consumption contexts: detraditionalization, re-publicization, dedifferentiation, and deterritorialization. Drawing insights from this review, the authors identify key under-theorized aspects and propose six future research directions: (1) new non-institutional forms of religious performance, (2) transhumanism as an emerging religion, (3) new forms of religious authority, (4) transnational religious service networks, (5) the rise of prosperity religion in non-Western and non-Christian contexts, and (6) resistance to marketization. The authors argue that these areas should be solid considerations for future marketing and religion scholars.

While the marketization of religion may suggest the absorption of religion by the market (Haddorff 2000), religious logic, structures, and practices have long shaped the market, consumption, and consumers (Appau and Bonsu, 2020; Belk et al., 1989; Botez et al., 2020; Muniz and Schau, 2005). Two papers in this special issue contribute to the persistence of religion in contemporary consumption and consumers’ changing lives. In “Navigating Spirituality in Vegan Fashion Consumption: Purification and Transgression Tolerance,” Marian Makkar, Nicole Yang, and Rachel Lamarche-Beauchesne use Mary Douglas’s pollution theory to unveil spiritual transcendence in a mundane context. They found that vegan consumers imbibe spiritual emotions by categorizing pure and impure and sacred and profane objects and practices in the fashion marketplace as espoused by the ideology of vegan fashion in ways not dissimilar to institutional religion. They pay particular attention to how vegan consumers manage consumption transgressions by engaging in practices and rituals that help them maintain their beliefs in what they view as a polluted marketplace. The study contributes to the extant literature by uncovering the phenomenon of spiritual consumption in mundane yet typically areligious contexts.

In that same theoretical pocket, Gregorio Fuschillo, Julien Cayla, and Bernard Cova theorize the experience of consumers who say they have been saved by a brand. In their paper titled “Saved by a Brand: An Odyssey of Personal Deliverance,” the authors detail their informants’ journey of finding salvation through a brand, starting from the pivotal moment of brand revelation, where the brand emerges as a savior, to the various ways it alleviates their suffering. For these fans, the brand becomes a companion that plays a crucial role in enhancing their lives. The authors contribute to our understanding of contemporary consumer brand relationships by revealing that the religious aspect of brands extends beyond brand communities and their rituals; it also manifests in the personal efforts of individual consumers who develop their own brand religions and achieve a sense of salvation.

Together, these articles significantly push the theoretical boundaries on the consumption of religion within religious and market contexts. They also help redefine some of these theoretical boundaries by looking in and out, near and far, as well as the then, now, and the future. Beyond the customary mapping of areas for future research that all these papers discuss and aside from those we have noted here in this editorial, for as long as religion—in whatever way it is practiced, experienced, and diffused—remains salient in social life, it will remain salient for marketing and consumer research. There will always be new gods, and with them as well as the old would ever come new questions. May we find them before they find us.