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Publication detail

Personal development practices and discourses of Slovak employees: a new form of religious subjectivity

Authors: Bártová Zuzana

Year: 2021

Type of publication: ostatní - přednáška nebo poster

Page from-to: nestránkováno

Titles:

Language	Name	Abstract	Keywords
eng	Personal development practices and discourses of Slovak employees: a new form of religious subjectivity	Since the 1990s, personal development practices have entered the business environment in Western countries. These practices and representations that are associated with them can involve relaxation, yoga, and meditation; participation in different therapies, such as lithotherapy, aromatherapy, coaching, NLP and psychology sessions; the conviction that individuals should discover their interior resources, work on their feelings and emotions. Recently these practices and representations have refocused on employees’ happiness and wellbeing. They are also present at the workplace in former socialist countries of Central-Eastern Europe such as Slovakia. Based on ongoing ethnographic research, the paper proposes to study management practices and discourses from the point of view of religious studies. New religious forms can be found outside religious organisations, dominated by the Catholic Church in Slovakia, and activities of religious entrepreneurs (Redden, 2005). The paper will study how these new trends in management represent new forms of religion. It will also analyse how they may reflect the values of the capitalist and consumerist society, its ‘spirit of capitalism’ (Boltanski & Chiappelo, 1999) and the hedonistic stance of the ʻspirit of consumerismʼ (Campbell, 1987).