Publication detail

Between marginalisation and alternative lifestyle: a case study of Buddhist practioners in the Czech Republic and France

Authors: Bártová Zuzana

Year: 2021

Type of publication: ostatní - přednáška nebo poster

Page from-to: nestránkováno

Titles:

Language	Name	Abstract	Keywords
eng	Between marginalisation and alternative lifestyle: a case study of Buddhist practioners in the Czech Republic and France	Previous research in minority religions mainly discussed religious marginalization through the concept of sect (Abgrall, 1996; Barker, 1995; Beckford, 1985; Luca, 1998). Some minority religious groups were thus considered controversial. Defying secularization, sects were also dismissed as threatening (Woodhead, 2011). As it is observed by Hjelm (2006, 2011) classical critiques of sects extend progressively to religions as such. Based on an ethnographic study of Buddhist practitioners of “convert” Buddhism during 2010 to 2013 in the Czech Republic and France, this paper suggests that despite media and popular culture appropriation of Buddhist symbols and practices (Borup, 2016; Iwamura, 2011; Mitchell, 2014), its practitioners can be marginalized in their everyday lives. Their Buddhist engagement becomes a social problem. However, practitioners themselves propose a positive view of their practices, world-views and values and embrace an alternative conception of what can be called a Buddhist lifestyle. It is argued that practitioners can efficiently adopt this position due to their social status of mainly middle-class origin. To fully assess this alternative character, the emic posture has to be contextualized with regard to contemporary culture and its values (e.g., consumerism).

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