The Lean Closet: Asceticism in Postindustrial Consumer Culture

Logan, Dana W.

doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfw091

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Standardized training is required to cultivate these human resources. The subjectivities produced by standardized forms of corporate governance not only generate human resources: they also generate people who are eager to demonstrate their loyalty by seeking the right way to consume (Logan 2017). The corporate objective is nothing less than the "creation of the person" (hitozukuri).…”

Section: Fragile Person Transcendent Corporationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Scholars of Religion Must Investigate the Corporate Form

McLaughlin

Rots

Thomas

et al. 2020

Journal of the American Academy of Religion

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A growing body of research describes connections between religion and economic activity through the language of commodification and marketization. Although this scholarship rightly challenges the assumption that religion is or should be divorced from worldly concerns, it still relies on distinctions between religion and the economy as isolable, reified entities. Rejecting this binary approach as untenable, we argue that studying the corporate form enriches the academic study of religion by providing concrete examples of how people create institutions and how organizations turn human bodies into resources while also fostering individuals’ devotion to collective agendas. Attention to the corporate form enables us to keep money and power in view as we trace historical formations and current manifestations of religious organizations. We investigate Japanese genealogies of the corporate form to elucidate some generalizable principles for how nonprofit religions and for-profit companies alike generate missions, families, individuals, and publics.

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Section: Fragile Person Transcendent Corporationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Scholars of Religion Must Investigate the Corporate Form

McLaughlin

Rots

Thomas

et al. 2020

Journal of the American Academy of Religion

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“…But there is also something new about cosmic wellness, especially as it is visible online on platforms such as Instagram. In the article, I outline key features of cosmic wellness and posit some initial reasons for its contemporary cultural purchase, using theories of digital food cultures (Goodman et al, 2017;Lupton, 2016), spiritual production and consumption (Lofton, 2006;Logan, 2016;Sointu, 2011Sointu, , 2012, postfeminism (Gill, 2017; and critical whiteness studies (Bentley, 2001;Crowley, 2011;Shome, 2014). I argue that, while seemingly vague, unserious, even laughable, cosmic wellness and its various manifestations deserve serious scholarly attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘How Goopy are you?’ Women, Goop and cosmic wellness

Conor

2021

European Journal of Cultural Studies

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In this article, I’ll outline the phenomenon of ‘cosmic wellness’ which is now visible across on- and offline spaces that promote health and well-being products and practices to women. Cosmic wellness is a broad constellation of media, discourse, imagery, materials and foods (including crystals, dust and herbs) produced primarily by white, wealthy women. On the one hand, cosmic wellness can be read as a digital food culture that offers healthy and potentially necessary responses to fiercely neoliberal modes of working and living. But conversely, it is framed as the newest example of narcissistic self-absorption and, more seriously, as unhealthy and dangerous. Cosmic wellness is founded on various beliefs, including the moral necessity of pursuing the optimisation of self and the power of markets to provide the ingredients, tools and practices to achieve it. It is connected to histories that chart the incorporation of New Age health and well-being practices into ‘mainstream’ forms of lifestyle production and consumption and the simultaneous derision of these practices, especially when used and promoted by women. But there is also something new about cosmic wellness, especially as it is visible online on platforms such as Instagram. In the article, I outline the key features of cosmic wellness and analyse its contemporary cultural purchase, using theories of digital food cultures, spiritual production and consumption, postfeminism and critical whiteness studies. The article then conducts empirical analysis of a series of Instagram posts from one prominent space in which cosmic wellness currently circulates: Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle and wellness business Goop.

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Asceticism and Self‐Cultivation

Clements¹

2022

Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics

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The Lean Closet: Asceticism in Postindustrial Consumer Culture

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

Why Scholars of Religion Must Investigate the Corporate Form

Why Scholars of Religion Must Investigate the Corporate Form

‘How Goopy are you?’ Women, Goop and cosmic wellness

Asceticism and Self‐Cultivation

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