Contemporary New Age Transformation in Taiwan : A Sociological Study of a New Religious Movement

by Chen, Shu-chuan; Beckford, James A.

• ISBN13: 9780773448803
• ISBN10: 0773448802
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-15
• Publisher: Edwin Mellen Pr

Summary

The first comprehensive analysis in English ofthe social dimension ofTawian's New Age movements, this work employs a qualitative approach to test the ideas that underlie many sociological accounts of New Age phenomena and late modernity, for the purpose of explaining the movement's distinctive path of development.

Author Biography

Dr. Shu-Chuan Chen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at FoGuang University in Taiwan. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Warwick, UK in 2006. Her research interests cover new forms of religion/spirituality, globalization vis-a-vis new religion/spirituality, spirituality of emotions and embodiment, and qualitative research methodology. Her current undertaking explores the development of modern yoga practices in Taiwan, relationship between globalization and cosmopolitan yoga, and the body and emotions in spiritual experiences.

Table of Contents

Figures and tables
Foreword
Introduction	p. 1
Beginning of the journey	p. 5
The concept of 'New Age'	p. 15
Self-religion, reflexive modernization, and globalization	p. 47
The range of the New Age movement in Taiwan	p. 75
Transformation I: self, emotions and feeling rules in New Age practices	p. 109
Transformation II: healing, self-identity and expert knowledge in New Age practices	p. 137
Transformation III: organizations, networks and globalization in the New Age movement	p. 173
One journey ends, another begins	p. 205
Notes	p. 215
A list of the interviewees	p. 219
Interview questions	p. 221
A list of pinyin system	p. 224
Bibliography	p. 226
Author index	p. 241
Subject index	p. 244
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.