Good Karma

Abstract

This chapter argues against the common tropes that bemoan the commodification of spirituality as the loss of an authentic, pure religious expression or spiritual consumers as the passive victims of manipulation, deception, and coercion, as cultural dupes living in a permanent state of false consciousness. It suggests such critiques depend on the ahistorical assumption that there is an original, static tradition to be preserved, one that preexisted the profanation of religion through commodification, and consequently they produce nostalgic representations, mirroring the essentialisms of consumers themselves. Alternatively, this chapter provides an analysis of spiritual consumers, not as duped, but as choosing spiritual commodities because they privilege the culturally dominant neoliberal capitalist values and ideologies they already embrace.