A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
The Global Political Economy, Welfare State Reforms, and the Governance of Religion
Authors: Martikainen, Tuomas
Editors: Nynäs, Peter; Lassander, Mika; Utriainen, Terhi
Publisher: Routledge
Publication year: 2012
Book title : Post-Secular Society
First page : 71
Last page: 93
ISBN: 978-1-4128-4610-3
eISBN: 9781315127095
DOI: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127095
Web address : http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315127095
This chapter looks at changes and reforms in postwar western welfare states that—it will be asserted—have led to unintended consequences in other areas of life, including religion. These changes have their roots in the global political economy. The chapter then looks at the developments in three key areas: church–state relations, the mediatization and marketization of religion, and international mobility. It discusses the central aspect of the changes and what the social welfare might entail for novel forms of "religion" and its governance, and ask what is its relation to the "post-secular". The chapter then addresses developments that take place in the Nordic countries and Western Europe. It describes text – both theoretical and exploratory, and aims to create a common platform for describing and analyzing changes that are seen as separate from each other. The chapter concludes that religion is deeply rooted in globalized identity politics, to be a source of provocation and reconciliation in the coming decades.