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| Modern Buddhist Praxis and the Critique of Consumerism | ||
| 作者 | Oss, Jeffrey Joseph (著) |
|---|---|
| 出處題名 | Dissertation Abstracts International |
| 卷期 | v.63 n.6 Section A |
| 出版日期 | 2001 |
| 頁次 | 2386 |
| 出版者 | ProQuest LLC |
| 出版者網址 | https://www.proquest.com/ |
| 出版地 | Ann Arbor, MI, US [安娜堡, 密西根州, 美國] |
| 資料類型 | 期刊論文=Journal Article |
| 使用語言 | 英文=English |
| 學位類別 | 博士 |
| 校院名稱 | University of Alberta |
| 指導教授 | Morrow, Raymond |
| 畢業年度 | 2001 |
| 附註項 | 282p |
| 關鍵詞 | Buddhist; Consumerism; Theravada Buddhism; Socialization; Postmodernism |
| 摘要 | This dissertation is concerned with a sociological analysis of Western uses of Theravada Buddhism as a theory and practice that has implications for a social theory of consumption in regard to postmodernity. In particular, it seeks to situate the cultural location of Western Buddhist practice as an ethic of resistance to the socialization of the insatiable modern consumer, a socialization process that has rapidly become worldwide with the globalization of consumer culture. The Theravadin perspective provides a useful interpretive framework since it defamiliarizes consumer society. In order to identify the distinctive features of Theravada Buddhism, this Eastern moral worldview is juxtaposed with two moral worldviews rooted in the Western tradition: Kantian ethics and the Alcoholics Anonymous perspective that informs the Twelve Steps anti-addictions movement. A model of consumerism is then proposed, based on the Buddhist concept of desire (tanha), which incorporates key features of the sociological theories of Collin Campbell, Jean Baudrillard, and Thorstein Veblen that profile the insatiable consumer in terms of hedonism, nihilism, and social distinction. Following from this exposition is a detailed examination of modern Buddhist practice that is illustrated by excerpts from in-depth interviews from a sample of forty individuals at a Buddhist monastery and meditation centre in the United States. The data from this exploratory study are used to explore modern Buddhist praxis on two fronts: (1) To investigate whether central components of Buddhist practice have in fact entered into the everyday lives of Western practitioners. (2) To gain an initial impression as to how Western Buddhist praxis runs counter to the socialization of the insatiable consumer. In this latter context, critical self-reflection is argued to be the most consequential feature of North American Buddhism as an ethos of resistance to consumerism; and, furthermore, that this aspect of Buddhist practice has a strong elective affinity with the ethos of the Western Enlightenment. While Westerners engaged in Buddhist meditation may appear foreign in North American society, the new religious movement they represent is not only consistent with the cultural heritage of modernity, it also legitimates the Enlightenment project in novel and distinct ways. |
| ISBN | 0612689808; 9780612689800 |
| 點閱次數 | 738 |
| 建檔日期 | 2005.09.23 |
| 更新日期 | 2022.03.25 |
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