McDonaldizing Spirituality

Abstract

The exponential growth of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in recent years has resulted in a marketisation and commodification of practice—popularly labeled “McMindfulness”—which divorces mindfulness from its spiritual and ethical origins in Buddhist traditions. Such commodification is criticized by utilising ideas and insights drawn from work in educational philosophy and policy analysis. The “McDonaldization” process is applied to the emerging populist versions of mindfulness and analysed in some detail, alongside the capitalization and marketisation of MBIs on the McMindfulness model. The central argument is that the crucial educational function of MBIs needs to be informed by the moral virtues which are at the heart of Buddhist mindfulness. Without such an ethical and educational foundation—actively connected with engaged Buddhist foundations aimed at individual and social transformation—mindfulness becomes just another fashionable self-help gimmick that is unlikely to be of any lasting individual or social benefit.

Mindfulness in and as education: A map of a developing academic discourse from 2002 to 2017

“…entail any aspect of critique of the discourse/study of mindfulness in education (Hyland, 2017) • Teaching and learning: implications that bear directly on the kinds of teaching and learning environments formed by implementations of mindfulness or conclusions as to effective implementations from the perspective of teaching and learning (Holland, 2004) • Mindful and healthy society: associated with the broader effects of mindfulness in education for society (Brown-Wright et al, 2011) • Reconceptualising education/curriculum: moderate to radical understandings of the scope and possibilities of contemporary education (Napoli & Bonifas, 2011) • Type of implementation -articulates the basic logistics of how mindfulness was incorporated into the educational setting…”

“…Some themes that were discussed in these papers include the critique of mindfulness as a commodified/diluted version of the practice when grounded in its Buddhist origins (e.g. Hyland, 2017), lacking scientific rigor in research (e.g. Greenberg & Harris, 2012) and adverse effects of the practice (e.g.…”

“…These critiques involved the ethical basis of MBIs, their overall aim and their actual impact. Hyland (2017) discussed the commodification of the practice, referred to as 'McMindfulness' (Purser & Loy, 2013). He argued that mindfulness requires its origin-based ethics in order to become more than a passing fad.…”

“…Sensitive to this issue, implementers of mindfulness have hence often been grounding the practice in scientific-psychological constructs and avoiding Buddhist terminology (Nelson, 2012;Jennings, 2016). However, this trend has lead to other types of critique often referred to as 'McMindfulness', revolving around the commodification of mindfulness, its uprooting from its ethical underpinnings and its construal as a panacea (Purser & Loy, 2013;Hyland, 2017;Forbes, 2019). Scientists themselves have been warning against the 'hype' around mindfulness that reflects an enthusiasm that the present state of research does not justify (Greenberg & Harris, 2012;Van Dam et al, 2018).…”

Theoretical Foundations to Guide Mindfulness Meditation: A Path to Wisdom

“…Numerous researchers, clinicians and scholars have suggested however that mindfulness is a richer concept than thus far understood and applied in psychology, and that the current interpretation of mindfulness merely as a clinically-useful psychological trait risks distorting and significantly limiting the potential contribution of mindfulness to mainstream psychology (Grossman 2011;Harrington and Dunne 2015;Hyland 2017;Kang and Whittingham 2010). Furthermore, suggestions have been made to incorporate theoretical concepts derived from the 2,600-year-old Buddhist tradition, which might provide a better understanding along with more sustained outcomes for mindfulness interventions (Amaro 2015;Buttle 2015;de Zoysa 2016;Kudesia and Nyima 2015;Purser and Milillo 2015).…”