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Modern Buddhist praxis and the criti...

Oss, Jeffrey Joseph.

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Modern Buddhist praxis and the critique of consumerism.

Record Type:	Language materials, printed : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Modern Buddhist praxis and the critique of consumerism./
Author:	Oss, Jeffrey Joseph.
Description:	282 p.
Notes:	Adviser: Raymond Morrow.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International63-06A.
Subject:	Religion, Philosophy of. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=NQ68980
ISBN:	9780612689800

Modern Buddhist praxis and the critique of consumerism.
Oss, Jeffrey Joseph.

Modern Buddhist praxis and the critique of consumerism. - 282 p.

Adviser: Raymond Morrow.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta (Canada), 2001.

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: 9780612689800Subjects--Topical Terms:

1017774
Religion, Philosophy of.

Modern Buddhist praxis and the critique of consumerism.
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245 1 0 $a Modern Buddhist praxis and the critique of consumerism.
300 $a 282 p.
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500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 63-06, Section: A, page: 2386.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta (Canada), 2001.
520 $a 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.
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