"A Collective of Individuals": Between Self and Solidarity in a Rainbow Gathering

Tavory, Iddo; Goodman, Yehuda C.

doi:10.1093/socrel/srp038

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Many of those who study the spiritual scene in Israel frame the flowering of it within the context of processes of change that Israel society is undergoing. Changes that center on a strengthening of postmaterial values, globalization, and neo-liberalism (Ram 2008) are cited in relation to the development of this cultural scene (Simchai 2009;Werczberger and Huss 2014;Tavory and Goodman 2009 (Loss 2010;Simchai 2014) refer to the manner in which Israel's New Age scene adopts and preserves the country's hegemonic conceptions, thereby easing the way for many to join it but at the same time limiting this culture's power to establish an alternative culture and to reflect processes of change (Simchai 2017). These different interpretations are certainly not mutually exclusive, given Israel's complex social makeup.…”

Section: New Age Subjectivity and Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ethic of Spirituality and the Non‐Angry Subject

Simchai¹,

Shoshana²

2018

Ethos

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This article is based on ethnographic studies of several spiritual groups in Israel. It offers a critical analysis of the discursive practices employed with regard to the link between spirituality and anger. We found that the emotion of anger occupies a singular status in New Age culture. By marking it as an uncontrollable and explosive emotion, anger is constructed as a key emotion that reflects and signifies the subject's proximity to the ideal spiritual personality. Our findings furthermore reveal two main emotion pedagogies employed to construct anger and to cope with it. In the discussion section, we address the affinity between the spiritual ethic and the nonangry subject, and the alliance between the spiritual, the therapeutic and the neo‐liberal discourses that sustains this affinity. This discursive alliance stands in the way of the adoption of critical cultural orientations toward the emotion of anger. [spirituality, emotions, anger, subjectivity, discursive alliance, emotion pedagogies]

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Section: New Age Subjectivity and Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ethic of Spirituality and the Non‐Angry Subject

Simchai¹,

Shoshana²

2018

Ethos

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“…While these political groups can be powerful at opposing existing structures because they do not operate as "expected", they are far less effective at creating alternative solutions. There are a number of gatherings like Convergence, which would come under the large scale such as Confest [56], Burning Man [57], and the Rainbow gathering [58].…”

Section: Large Scale Acephalous Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three Scales of Acephalous Organization

MacGill

2016

Systems

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Dominance-based hierarchies have been taken for granted as the way we structure our organizations, but they are a part of a paradigm that has put our whole existence in peril. There is an urgent need to explore alternative paradigms that take us away from dystopic futures towards preferred, life enhancing paradigms based on wellbeing. One of the alternative ways of organizing ourselves that avoids much of the structural violence of existing organizations is the acephalous group (operating without any structured, ongoing leadership). Decision making becomes distributed, transitory and self-selecting. Such groups are not always appropriate and have their strengths and weaknesses, but they can be a more effective, humane way of organizing ourselves and can open windows to new ways of being. Acephalous groups operate at many different scales and adapt their structure accordingly. For this reason, a comparison of small, medium and large-scale acephalous groups reveals some of the dynamics involved in acephalous functioning and provides a useful overview of these emergent forms of organization and foreshadows the role they may play in future.

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“…Many Israelis today partake in New Age related activities, such as alternative medicine treatment methods (Fadlon 2012;Keshet 2010;Shuval et al 2012), human potential workshops (Malchior and Sharot 2010), and channeling (Klin-Oron 2013). Festivals celebrating New Age culture are attended by thousands (Simchai 2009;Tavory 2007;Tavory and Goodman 2009), and New Age stores offer books, merchandise, and specialized magazines, as well as sponsor events that introduce a variety of New Age practices (Zaidman 2007). To these activities one may add the growing numbers of Israelis practicing various Eastern and indigenous techniques such as Buddhist (mainly Vipassana) meditation (Loss 2010), yoga (Rosen 2008), tai chi and neo-shamanism (Ybleberg 2007), and neo-paganism (Feraro in this volume).…”

Section: From New Religious Movements To New Age Culture In Israelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A sociological perspective is offered by scholars including Tavory and Goodman (2009) and Klin-Oron (2012). This perspective argues that the success of New Age spirituality in Israel may be explained by the transition of Israeli society from the collectivist-hegemonic ethos to a multi-sectorial and individualist one.…”

Section: From New Religious Movements To New Age Culture In Israelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Somewhere between 1973 and Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995, this ethos went through a significant transition. The national collective disintegrated, and Israeli society moved on to an individualist, capitalist, and consumerist ethos, favoring smaller communities and competitive sectors (Tavory and Goodman 2009). New Age spirituality, with its theological stress on the individual, his or her welfare, and self-realization, is the epitome of this transition.…”

Section: From New Religious Movements To New Age Culture In Israelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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