The Impact of Neoliberalism on Religiosity

Another boring and tasteless title, you say?

No.

It's what I think after reading the Spiritual Economies: Islam and Neoliberalism in Contemporary Indonesia, by Daromir Rudnyckyj in Cultural Anthropology, Vol 24, Issue 1, Jan 2009, pp 104-141.

Check this interesting ethnography work on how, or why, Krakatau Steel, a state owned enterprise on the verge of privatization due to current market reform, decides to hire ESQ. And according to the editor of that Journal:

"In Indonesia, religion is not a "refuge" from or resistance to neoliberalism, nor is it a retreat into "magic and mystery" in response to global capitalism. Instead, religion and capitalism are brought together to address the challenges of globalization. By enabling Islamic virtues of self-discipline, accountability and entrepreneurial action, one becomes both a more pious Muslim and a more productive employee. Rudnyckyj argues that "managers, state technocrats, and religious reformers sought to enact a set of neoliberal practices by creating a new type of subject, a worshipping worker, for whom labor was a matter of religious duty."

My first reaction: Marxian false consciousness at play. But Sisil, the one with real anthropology training, differs and thinks it more as Weberian ethics with Islam twist.

Nevertheless, if neoliberalism indeed brings greater religiosity, what you say, MUI? Or anti neoliberal?