The commercial ethic and corporate religion

Abstract

The relationship between religion and economics has been explored by scholars since Max Weber’s seminal work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905). In the late twentieth century, theorists began to focus particularly on the impact of consumerism on Western religiosity, demonstrating the manner in which traditional religious beliefs and practices are making way for a broader ‘spiritual marketplace’ in which consumers are able to ‘pick and mix’ those elements of religion which they find most appealing. The New Age movement is most commonly the subject of these discussions, though recent scholarship has offered the terms ‘spiritualities of life’ and ‘progressive spiritualities’ as more nuanced alternatives. Another aspect of this relationship that has sparked interest from the academy, particularly since the 1990s, is the merging of corporate culture and spirituality. Observations of this phenomenon are often made through a similar lens, with the New Age paradigm most often employed to describe the kinds of beliefs and practices circulating the corporate sector. Whilst in the early twenty-first century several texts promoting ‘spirituality’ in the workplace exist, these are almost always composed either by non-academic authors writing from within the field of business, or by theologians encouraging religious practices at work. When it comes to etic, sociological analyses, more cynical approaches are the norm. Spirituality in the workplace is commonly analysed as profit-driven, designed to promote worker efficiency and improve sales. The fact that many ‘spiritual’ products are marketed as doing just this certainly seems to justify these perspectives. However, less easy to validate are the implications of the ‘inauthentic’ nature of workplace spirituality, and the clearly problematic dichotomies of ‘real’ versus ‘fake’ religion such analyses carry. Consequently, this thesis aims to avoid moralising whilst exploring these currents, and to focus instead on unpacking the problems of ‘corporate religion.’ This process begins with an in-depth analysis of the core aspects of these corporate spiritualities; namely the ‘sacred’ and soteriological forms that exist within them, as well as the specific values they promote. The concepts of ‘ultimate subjectivity,’ ‘soteriological relocation,’ and ‘ontological soteriology’ are offered, and illustrated to be new and important characteristics of modern Western spirituality. It is also concerned with the creation of the ‘commercial ethic,’ and its relationship to the phenomenon of ‘corporate religion.’ While the roots of these phenomena run deeper than the scope of this thesis allows, the roles of certain socio-cultural forces of the twentieth century in their formation are explored. Two culture streams in particular are identified as being seminal in the creation of these new spiritual and ethical realities. The first, that of humanistic psychology, is shown to have contributed profoundly to the creation and perpetuation of ‘ultimate subjectivity;’ the idea of the ‘authentic self’ representing a new form of the sacred and the absolute arbiter of change. Further, the early humanistic psychologists are shown to have promoted particular values including spontaneity, creativity, playfulness, courage, autonomy and rebellion, as means of finding ‘salvation’ from the crises of modernity. The second culture stream, which includes marketing, consumer and business culture – all elements of consumer capitalism – is revealed to have been equally responsible for the perpetuation of these ideas in modern Western consciousness. While this may seem ironic, considering the rejection of corporate culture by many humanistic psychologists, a deeper analysis shows the existence of a dialectic between these seemingly divergent fields, resulting in the synthesis of the modern commercial ethic. In exploring the first culture stream, that of psychology and the Human Potential Movement, the work of Erich Fromm and Abraham Maslow is primarily investigated. In the analysis of the second, that of consumer culture, marketing and business, two authors are primary. First, Thomas Frank’s discussion of the relationship between ‘counter-culture’ values and marketing is discussed. Secondly, John Grant’s New Marketing Manifesto is shown to reflect the manner in which commercial ethic values are fundamental to business and marketing success, having been subsequently promoted through Western culture. Two key methodological frameworks are employed to frame these analyses. Firstly, Charles Taylor’s theory of the ‘massive subjective turn of modern culture’ lies at the heart of the primary arguments presented here. Secondly, Berger and Luckmann’s model of reality construction represents the scaffolding for the theory of the creation of the commercial ethic, as humanistic psychologists and marketing professional are viewed as experts responsible for the permeation of commercial ethic values throughout Western culture, as well as new, temporal, ontology-based forms of the sacred and salvation. Having examined the creation of these new spiritual realities, and their solidification within contemporary Western consciousness, the nature of the corporate religious forms that uphold them will be explored. This will begin with the problematizing of much of the sociological methodology concerning secularisation, rationalisation, and the function and social significance of new religious forms in Western late modernity. In particular, theories that promote the demoralisation perspective – the understanding that rationalisation and the utilitarian individualism promoted by modern consumer capitalism inevitably result in the death of religion – are scrutinized. More specifically, the hypothesis that the nature of rationality is inherently not conducive to the creation of religion is challenged. Arguing from the understanding that religion both reflects and emerges from society, seemingly ‘rational’ forms of religion existing within bureaucratised, corporate environments are presented as empirical challenges to these theses. These spiritualities are shown to function in much the same way as traditional religious forms, unifying participants through shared values and beliefs, offering salvation from the crises and malaises specific to the cultural context, and upholding a particular form of the sacred; the authentic Self. Having illustrated the significance and validity of these new religio-spiritual forms and their relevance to the academy, a detailed description of the corporate religious milieu will be offered. Potential typologies and categorisations of corporate religion are evaluated, and examples of these spiritual forms presented in order to highlight the scope of the phenomenon. Finally, a case study of a corporate religious form, ‘Landmark,’ is presented.