Edward Elgar Publishing Spirituality, Organization and Neoliberalism: Understanding Lived Experiences

This book brings together analyses from across the social sciences to develop an interdisciplinary approach to understanding spiritualities and neoliberalism. It traces the lived experience of social actors as they engage with new and alternative spiritualities in neoliberal contexts. An international group of authors in anthropology, sociology, religious studies, political science, critical management studies explore the contemporary flourishing of subjectivities centred on a variety of spiritual practices and imaginaries. The book analyses the social and organisational mechanisms that underlie the generation of 'enterprising' and 'competitive' subjectivities engaged in transforming inner selves and social environments in accordance with prevailing neoliberal economic rationalities. Contributions draw on a wide range of empirical settings around the world to discuss the role of subjectivities in organizations. The purpose of the book is to provide specific insights into how neoliberalism is resisted, contested or reproduced through a transformative ethic of spiritual self-realization. Researchers, academics and Masters level students in a range of social science disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, human geography, and organization studies will find this book relevant reading.Contributors include: I. Abraham, E. Bell, L. Cortois, S. Gog, A.-R. Kaupinnen, J.D. LoRusso, D. Miller, K. Navazhylava, A. Peticca-Harris, G. Shanahan, A. Simionca, S. Taylor, K. Valaskivi, T. Vine, A. Yankellevich Review 'This carefully crafted book takes on a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon. As a project of genuine interdisciplinary work, it shows how serious intellectual resources can be mobilised to investigate complicated empirical material, often too simplistically marked ''spirituality in organisations''. Examples familiar to all receive nuanced conceptual treatment so that both cases and analyses become valuable exercises in excellent social science. Looking forward to using it in thinking through contemporary work, management and culture, as well as in teaching.' --Bogdan Costea, Lancaster University, UK'This volume provides a sophisticated look at the varieties of spirituality under capitalism, combining sociological perspectives on religion with a critical engagement on the topic. Flanked on its sides by an organizational spirituality literature that too-often treats spirituality unquestioningly, and a critical literature that reduces it to ideological and instrumental uses, this volume presents nuanced essays that take seriously the lived experiences of organizational members, while never losing sight of the social and political stakes of spirituality within a capitalist society.' --Gazi Islam, Grenoble Ecole de Management, France About the Author Edited by Emma Bell, Professor of Organisation Studies, The Open University Business School, The Open University, UK, Sorin Gog, Lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babeș-Bolyai University, Anca Simionca, Lecturer and Vice-Dean, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania and Scott Taylor, Reader in Leadership and Organization Studies, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK