Consumption within a soft total institution: Discursive inculcation in the Tablighi Jamaat

Abstract

Erving Goffman’s concept of total institutions has been seldom explored in terms of how it restricts or promotes consumption practices. In an effort to redress the lacuna in the extant literature, this article draws on the findings of an ethnographic study of the Tablighi Jamaat, an orthodox religious organization originating in South Asia, whose participants undergo discursive inculcation in an environment that may be characterized as a soft total institution. We explore how consumption in such an environment entails processes of traditionalization under (late) modernity. Our findings show that consumption in a soft total institution requires subjects to monitor their own behavior discursively in order to attain certain intended, spiritual objectives. The study has implications for how consumption can be a means by which to either meet or inhibit life goals. In terms of theoretical contribution, this article begins to demarcate the boundary conditions between Goffman’s total institution and, what we are terming here, a soft total institution. Finally, we further Goffman’s original thesis by describing some of the subjects’ thoughts and experiences of their daily lives after their inculcation within the institutionalized setting.

Purification in religious sojourns: consuming in relatively sacred spaces

“…In this study, the masjid served as a location where most of the time is spent in a sojourn. This serves as a training ground for the body where it can soak beliefs and practices relatively free from worldly distractions (Rauf et al , 2018). TJ regimen also minimizes distraction by limiting the time being spent in bazaars and does away with use of technology that may connect participants back to the profane world.…”

“…While religious excursions such as the one TJ travelers undergo theoretically animate consumption in various aspects (Cova and Cova, 2019; Higgins and Hamilton, 2016; Husemann and Eckhardt, 2019; Moufahim, 2013; Moufahim and Lichrou, 2019; Rauf et al , 2018), one specific angle that demands attention is how the sense of sacred is manifest relatively in spaces that travelers occupy, as opposed to the sanctity of uncontested sacred spaces such as pilgrimage sites (Higgins and Hamilton, 2016; Moufahim, 2013), the sanctity of particular objects of consumption (Belk et al , 1989) or the sanctity of particular times (Eliade, 1954, 1959; Rauf, 2022). Pilgrimage sites, for instance, harbor both the sacred and the profane, but such venues still unarguably maintain their sacred status (Kedzior, 2012; Moufahim, 2013).…”

Islamic marketing: A literature review and research agenda

“…Apart from religiosity, various other factors influence the purchasing and consumption behaviour of both Muslim and non‐Muslim customers, such as—subjective norms, religious beliefs and ethical orientation, halal perception, customer knowledge about products and brands, perceived behavioural control, marketing communications and subject traits. Even, soft religious institutions can influence the consumption behaviour of customers (Rauf et al., 2018). Table 3 provides a synopsis of these factors, these determinants are mentioned in abstract form such as—halal perception covering the variables like—halal awareness, image, perception, integrity, certification and knowledge.…”

Madhhab Negotiation, Education Transformation and Conflict Resolution in Conveying the Sermon of Tablighi Jamaat in Southeast Asia

“…The Tablighi is part of a reformist sufism's project from Madrasah Darul Ulum Deobandi stream (Ali & Amin, 2020;Hamdi, 2022;Rauf et al, 2018). Yayasan Darul Ulum Deobandi is an institution that is active in religious education and missionary endeavours that was built in 1867 in Saharanpur, India.…”