Journal of Macromarketing

Journal of Macromarketing
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Spirituality, Religion, and Globalization

Sudhir H. Kale
Journal of Macromarketing 2004; 24; 92
DOI: 10.1177/0276146704269296
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2004 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
DECEMBER
JOURNAL
OF MACROMARKETING
2004
Spirituality, Religion, and Globalization

Sudhir H. Kale
Issues of spirituality and religion are seldom discussed in the

globalization context. Spirituality and religion affect the
globalization phenomenon and are, in turn, significantly
influenced by globalization. This article explores the interplay between spirituality and religion, and the forces of economics, technology, and globalization. Contemporary globalization exhibits five main trends in spirituality and religion:
increasing attempts to harness religion and spirituality as
means toward reterritorialization, the integration of spirituality in all aspects of life, a greater thrust toward the individualization of spirituality among consumers, the enhanced role
of cyberspace in the spiritual domain, and the syncretization
of spirituality. These five trends affect quality of life as well as
the relationship between governments and markets, two areas
of interest to macromarketers.
Keywords: spirituality; religion; globalization; territorialization; technology
The only myth thats going to be worth thinking about in the immediate future is one talking about the planetnot this city, not
these people, but the planet and everybody on it.
Joseph Campbell (Campbell and Moyers 1988, 32)
Few topics invoke as much passion among present-day

social researchers as the issue of globalization. Political scientists, economists, management scholars, marketers, and
sociologists have been scrutinizing the globalization phenomenon for more than two decades. Yet, not much agreement exists among scholars and across disciplines regarding
either the causes or effects of globalization, not to mention the
desirability of accelerated globalization. Aptly characterized
as the new fault line on the worlds ideological map, globalization and its contents (or discontents) will continue to be a
topic of much debate and discussion for some time.
Contemporary globalization has dramatically (and, some
would argue, irrevocably) altered the ways in which people
consume, work, gather information, play, and define their
identity. In contemplating the profound impact of globalization, Prabhu (1999, 2) observed, Globalization might formally be conceived as a set of processes that enacts a radical
transformation in the spatial and temporal organization of
social relations and activities, resulting in a palpable sense of

worldwide interconnectedness. Words such as interconnection, interdependence, and, most notably, integration are
often used to explain the phenomenon of globalization (Beck
2000; Hirst and Thompson 2002; Keohane and Nye 2000;
Scholte 2000).
The word integration derives from integer, implying one,
complete, or whole. Interestingly, the phenomenon of spirituality has also been conceived as comprising interconnection
and wholeness (Eckersley 2000; Mitroff and Denton 1999;
Roof 1993; Schneiders 2000; Walsh 1998). A careful study of
the literature on both spirituality and globalization reveals
that the two concepts may be related beyond mere metaphorical similarity. Spirituality and globalization affect one
another and, together with other environmental forces (such
as politics, technology, and economics), determine the cultural milieu in which we live. Yet, most of the discourses on
globalization have not addressed the relationship between
globalization and spirituality. The few notable exceptions that
appear in recent literature allude to spiritual and religious
responses to globalization (cf. Beyer 1994; Friedman 1999;
Stackhouse 2000). As Spickard (2001) rightly argued, to
focus only on response to globalization without an
appreciation of the underlying relationships leaves important
aspects aside.
Spirituality, religion, and globalization should be topics of
vital interest to macromarketers for at least three main reasons. First, religion, a primary means of addressing spiritual
needs (Pargament 1999), plays a profound role in defining the
what, how, when, and where of trade flows (Mittelstaedt
2002). Second, spirituality, religion, and globalization all
have a vital impact on overall wellness and quality of life for
an increasing number of the worlds inhabitants (Fogel 2000;
Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer 2000; Spaniol 2002). Finally,
spiritual needs translate into demand for goods and services
worth billions of dollars, and it is important that macromarketers understand these demand patterns, both throughout
The author wishes to thank the three anonymous JMM reviewers and especially the editor, Sandy Grossbart, for their encouragement and guidance in
bringing this article to fruition.
Journal of Macromarketing, Vol. 24 No. 2, December 2004 92-107
DOI: 10.1177/0276146704269296
2004 Sage Publications
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JOURNAL OF MACROMARKETING
time and across customer segments (Belk, Wallendorf, and

Sherry 1989). This will further our understanding of the role
of institutions such as churches as well as movements such as
the proliferation of religious cults from a systems perspective. As of now, our understanding of the demand and supply
patterns associated with the spiritual needs of consumers
remains fairly rudimentary.
This article integrates literature from a diversity of disciplinesmanagement, psychology, counseling, sociology,
economics, future studies, marketing, and religious studies
to arrive at a better understanding of the interrelatedness of
the two phenomena, globalization and spirituality. Such
interdisciplinary synthesis will enable researchers to have a
more complete picture of both spirituality and globalization,
thereby making cross-disciplinary osmosis of ideas and findings tenable. A multidisciplinary body of literature also
allows for an elevated conceptual platform from which to
observe the two phenomenahistorically, and as manifested
in contemporary times.
This article has four broad objectives: (1) to review literature on spirituality so as to arrive at an operational definition
of the spirituality construct; (2) to discuss the linkages among
spirituality, economics, technology, and globalization; (3) to
enunciate major trends in spirituality in todays global environment; and (4) to highlight the macromarketing implications of these trends.
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Although the concept of spirituality dates back almost two
thousand years to St. Paul, it is only in the past two decades or
so that it has become a topic of systematic enquiry in the
social science literature. During this time, there has been an
active and vociferous debate on the nature of spirituality
among scholars in management, psychology, religion, nursing, counseling, and pastoral care (Benjamin and Looby
1998; Marquis, Holden, and Warren 2001; Zinnbauer et al.
1997). Confusion between the concepts of spirituality and
religion is what mainly fuels this debate (Dialmy 2001;
Moberg 2002; Zinnbauer, Pargament, and Scott 1999). If we
are to have a meaningful dialogue on the construct of spirituality, the relationship between spirituality and religion needs
to be teased out.
Spirituality
The word spirituality comes from the Latin root spiritus,
meaning breaththe breath of life. Although there has been
an explosion of literature on the topic of spirituality in the past
two decades, articles and books about spirituality exhibit little agreement as to the precise meaning of the term.
Benner (1989, 20) characterized spirituality as a human
response to Gods gracious call to a relationship with himself. Beck (1986) and Goldsmith (1992) have referred to
93
spirituality as an inner state of being, or the heart or force

within a person. Schneiders (1989, 684) defined spirituality
as the experience of consciously striving to integrate ones
life in terms not of isolation and self-absorption but of selftranscendence toward the ultimate value one perceives,
whereas Myers (1990, 11) characterized it as a continuing
search for meaning and purpose in life; an appreciation for
the depth of life, the expanse of the universe, and natural
forces which operate; a personal belief system. In portraying
spiritual people, Opatz (1986) described them as individuals
striving for a balance between their inner and outer selves.
Reich (2000, 126) defined spirituality as a sharing of joy and
sorrow and the deep connections made between human
beings, between them and nature, and between them and a
higher being. Vaughan (1991) contended that spirituality is a
subjective experience of the sacred, whereas Shafranske and
Gorsuch (1984) described it as a transcendent dimension
within human experience in which the individual questions
the meaning of existence and attempts to place the self in a
broader ontological context. Pargament (1997) and
Zinnbauer, Pargament, and Scott (1999) defined spirituality
simply as searching for the sacred.
In one of the first empirical studies on spirituality in the
workplace, Mitroff and Denton (1999) offered some prescient observations concerning contemporary spirituality:
the respondents in this study differentiated strongly between
spirituality and religion. Whereas religion was viewed as a
highly inappropriate topic of discourse in the workplace,
spirituality was seen as a highly appropriate subject for discussion. Respondents viewed spirituality as the basic feeling of being connected with ones complete self, others, and
the entire universe. Similar observations were echoed in the
empirical work of Roof (1993). Participants in this study
viewed spirituality as involving lifes deeper motivations and
an emotional connection to God. Religion, to them, had an
institutional connotation that translated into practicing rituals, adhering to dogmas, attending services, and the like.
Mirvis (1997, 197) made an interesting distinction between
spirituality and religion when he said, Religion is about
answers (and) spirituality is about questions. Eckersley
(2000) provided another simple definition: Spirituality is a
deeply intuitive sense of relatedness or interconnectedness to
the world and the universe in which we live. An assessment
of the various discourses on spirituality suggests that a comprehensive definition of spirituality needs to incorporate four
overarching ideas: a sense of inner self, a sense of meaning, a
sense of interconnectedness, and a notion of the Beyond (or
God). Drawing on these ideas, spirituality could be defined as
the engagement to exploreand deeply and meaningfully
connect ones inner selfto the known world and Beyond.
Inner self. The idea of an inner life or self, discussed in
many articles on spirituality, is the key to spiritual experience.
Zukav (1990) characterized it as the invisible realm in
which the origins of our deeper understandings are located. It

94
DECEMBER 2004
involves a sense of ones being or consciousness, and how

that being relates to other beings (Bartunek and Moch 1994;
McDonald 1997). McDonald (1997) depicted the inner self
as the core from which our most valuable thoughts and feelings originate. When we are in touch with that center and use
it to guide our behavior, we act as genuinely as we can. Roger
Walsh (2001), a highly respected scientist, philosopher, and
anthropologist, viewed individual life as comprising an outer
self and an inner self. He then explained the differences
between the two selves:
We have a part of our life and being in this world we see and
touch, but in a deeper part at the core of our being, at the center of our minds, at the center of our awareness, we experience this other sacred realm, and we partake of it, and we are
it.
Meaning. The search for meaning in life has been a key

theme in both spirituality studies as well as existential psychology. Victor Frankl (1959) discussed the nological
dimension of mankind, the innate motivation to find an overarching meaning and purpose in life. Cremins (2000) cited
the search for meaning in life as the most significant aspect
of spirituality. Canda (1990) viewed the spiritual as a persons
search for a sense of meaning and morally fulfilling relationships. Carroll (1997) conceptualized spirituality as a relationship that fosters a sense of meaning, purpose, and mission in
life. The psychiatrist Andrew Sims (1994) proposed five
domains to spirituality: meaning in life (what a person lives
for), interrelatedness, wholeness, morality, and awareness of
God.
Interconnectedness. The term connectedness or its correlates have been used in almost all descriptions of spirituality
(Benjamin and Looby 1998; Mitroff and Denton 1999;
Eckersley 2000; Neck and Millman 1994; OMurchu 1998;
Piedmont 1999; Reich 2000; Schneiders 2000; Van Ness
1996). Sass (2000) observed that spirituality, throughout the
literature, has been depicted as an emphasis on connection
and integration rather than separation. Connectedness has
often been portrayed as recognition of the ultimate unity of all
being, a sense that there exists an energy that transcends the
categories and concepts governing mundane material realm.
Mitroff and Denton (1999) underscored the notion of
connectedness when they conceptualized spirituality as the
basic desire to find ultimate meaning and purpose in ones life
and to live an integrated life.
The Beyond. Inherent in most definitions of spirituality
dwells the basic underlying belief that there is a supreme
power, being, or force that provides a purpose for everything
and everyone. It is in connection with this Beyond that spiritual experience occurs (Benner 1989; Schneiders 1989;
Sims 1994). An authentic spiritual experience has often been
described as one accompanying a sense of awe, wonder,
amazement, and joy.
The Beyond could mean many thingshigher power,

God, universal spirit or consciousness, or the totality of existence, seen and unseen (McCormick 1994; Mitroff and
Denton 1999; Sass 2000). Notwithstanding the myriad and
essentially subjective meanings given to the Beyond, it is
clear from the interdisciplinary review of literature that this
concept has been viewed as one of the major pillars constituting spirituality.
Clark (1958) depicted a religious experience as the inner
experience of the individual when he or she senses a Beyond.
The Beyond is one of the common themes shared in the
depiction of both spirituality and religion.
Spirituality and Religion
The Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion (Reese 1999,
647) offers the following explanation for religion:
Religionfrom the Latin religare (to bind back)typically
refers to an institution with a recognized body of communicants who gather together regularly for worship, and accept a
set of doctrines offering some means of relating the individual to what is taken to be the ultimate nature of reality.
Several authors have sought to differentiate spirituality from

religion. Shafranske and Gorsuch (1984) postulated that spirituality transcends religious organizations or sectarian conventions or customs (also see Legere 1984). Current thinking
on the topic views religion as a vehicle that serves to nurture
spirituality for many individuals by providing a road map to
comprehend and express their spirituality (Elkins et al. 1988;
Ingersoll 1994). Spirituality, however, is not dependent on
any given form or guise of religion (Benjamin and Looby
1998; Hinterkopf 1994).
Zinnbauer et al. (1997) sought to unravel these distinctions between spirituality and religion through an empirical
study. They concluded that most people do distinguish
between spirituality and religion, with spirituality being perceived as the more personalized aspect of faith whereas religion is perceived as the more formalized and institutionalized
manifestation of faith. There was, however, a lot of overlap in
the way the concepts of spirituality and religion were viewed
by the participants in this study. Also, most participants
described themselves as both religious and spiritual. In
another study, Zinnbauer, Pargament, and Scott (1999) found
thirty-one definitions of religion (or religiousness) and forty
of spirituality in social science publications throughout the
past century that were fairly evenly distributed over nine content categories. The authors concluded that because of the
immense overlap in human experience between spirituality
and religion, it makes sense to integrate them in scholarly
studies. Some authors therefore have dealt with the two concepts together, referring to them as religion/spirituality
(Moberg 2002).

For the purpose of this article, we shall view religion as a

specific spiritual tradition usually emanating from some
foundational experience of divine or cosmic revelation . . .
that has given rise to a characteristic way of understanding
and living in the presence of the numinous (Schneiders
2000, 7). Religion is one of the principal ways with which to
address the spiritual needs of individuals. This viewpoint,
although held by a majority of scholars, is not free of dissent.
Zinnbauer and his colleagues have argued for religion to be
viewed as a concept wider in scope than spirituality (see
Zinnbauer et al. 1997; Zinnbauer, Pargament, and Scott
1999). This latter conceptualization has not attracted any visible support from other scholars and has been criticized on
conceptual grounds (cf. Moberg 2002; Piedmont 1999; Reich
2000).
To reiterate, religion in this article will be viewed as a road
map for spirituality, a road map that contains in its beliefs and
symbols the accumulated wisdom of those who have made
the journey before us. Spirituality, in and of itself, does not
have to be predicated by any particular religion.
GLOBALIZATION
There seems to no single overriding definition of the term
that can effectively explain all facets of the globalization phenomenon and that satisfies everybody. Concurrently influential definitions of globalization include the integration of
markets, nation-states, and technologies on an unprecedented
scale (Friedman 1999); the compression of the world and the
intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole
(Robertson 1992); a recession of geographical constraints on
the worlds social and cultural arrangements (Waters 1995);
the active dissemination of practices, values, technology, and
other human products throughout the globe (Albrow 1996); a
process through which sovereign national states are crisscrossed and undermined by transnational actors with varying
prospects of power, orientations, identities, and networks
(Beck 2000); and a historical transformation in the economy
(of livelihoods and modes of existence), in politics (a loss in
the degree of control exercised locally), and in culture (the
devaluation of a collectivitys achievements; Mittelman
2000).
To counter some of the confusion that surrounds the globalization phenomenon, Keohane and Nye (2000), two leading political scientists, distinguished between globalism and
globalization. Globalism, to Keohane and Nye (2000, 105),
is a state of the world involving networks of interdependence at multicontinental distances, whereas globalization
and deglobalization refer to the increase or decrease of
globalism.
Held et al. (1999) classified the various conceptualizations
on globalization into three categories: the hyperglobalist,
skeptical, and transformationalist views. The hyperglobalists
argue that we live in an increasingly global world where
95
nation-states are being subject to massive economic and

political changes. These changes erode and fragment the
nation-states, diminishing their power and authority.
The skeptics resist the hyperglobalist view and argue that
the contemporary global circumstances are not unprecedented. Although they agree that there has been an intensification of international and social activity in recent times, the
power of the state has not been eroded, as the hyperglobalists
like to think.
The transformationalists contend that globalization has
created new economic, political, and social circumstances
that serve to transform state powers and the context within
which states operate. They cannot predict the outcome of
these changes but assert that politics will no longer be based
on nation-states alone. For the hyperglobalists, capitalism
and technology drive globalization; for the skeptics, states
and markets are the drivers; and for the transformationalists,
it is the combined forces of modernity that have created the
current unprecedented level of global interconnectedness.
This article will address social and cultural globalism largely
from the transformationalist perspective. Because the focus
of this article is on spirituality and religion as they relate to
globalization (or, more appropriately, to globalism), such
perspective seems most appropriate. To better appreciate how
spirituality and religion affect and have been affected by the
phenomenon of globalization, a brief review of the evolution
of globalization is in order.
The History of Globalization
The onset of the era of globalization, that is, when globalization exactly began, is an issue that is fiercely contested (for
different aspects of the historical perspective on globalization, see Maddison 1989; Krugman 1997; Rodrik 1997).
Some world historians attach major significance to 1492 A.D.
(when Christopher Columbus stumbled on the Americas in
search of spices) and 1498 A.D. (when Vasco da Gama made
an end run around Africa) as watershed years that signaled
the beginning of globalization (Bentley 1996). Others equate
globalization with rising Western influence or, to be more
precise, with the increasing American influence since the end
of the Cold War (Friedman 1999). Still others, and possibly
the majority, harbor the notion of globalization as a new process driven by major technological advances in the transmission, storage, and processing of information that started
about two decades ago (Arrighi 1999).
Economists Frank and Gills (1993, 3) have argued that the
process of globalization is nothing new: The existence of the
same world system in which we live stretches back at least
5,000 years. Majid Tehranian (1999) concurred that globalization is a process that has been going on for the past 5,000
years but insists that it has accelerated since the demise of the
Soviet Union in 1991. Bentley (cited in Riggs 2000) has suggested a periodization, identifying some notable turning
points in the history of globalization such as the migration of

96
DECEMBER 2004
Homo erectus from Africa 500,000 to 1 million years ago, the

domestication of horses and the invention of stout watercraft
around 4,000 B.C., the invention of the wheel around 3,500
B.C., the domestication of camels around 3,000 B.C., and the
establishment of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean around 500
B.C.
The argument regarding the long history of globalization

has been more recently supported by Amartya Sen, the economics Nobel laureate. Sen (2002) attested that the globalization process is at least a few thousand years old but that the
West had a minor role to play in its early phases. Until about
1,000 A.D., Sen observed, globalization was triggered by
countries in the East, not West. Then, as now, the process was
accelerated with the aid of technology. Back then, the technology of the day comprised paper and printing, the crossbow
and gunpowder, the clock and iron-chain suspension bridge,
and the wheelbarrow and rotary fan (Sen 2002).
Based on this discussion, it appears that globalization has
been in the making for eons, and what we are witnessing
today is a continuation of a long-standing trend, albeit with
greater intensity. Management scholars, in particular, need to
recognize that the spurs to globalismrationalization, capital, and technologyhave been at play for centuries; what is
distinctive about them in the current period is their unprecedented speed and unprecedented extent (Scholte 2000).
Friedman (1999) distinguished between preWorld War I
globalization and contemporary globalization. He argued
that the new era of globalization (in vogue for the past fifteen
years or so), compared to the one prior to World War I, is
turbocharged. Also, although falling transportation costs
drove globalization in the preWorld War I era, falling telecommunications costs are what is driving globalization
today.
Although the roles of technology and economic rationalization in propagating globalization are self-evident, there
seems to be little appreciation of how spirituality or religion
have been instrumental in bringing about globalization (or
affected by it). To facilitate such understanding, the linkages
among spirituality, economics, technology, and globalization
deserve scrutiny.
THE INTERCONNECTIONS
Through the ages, peoples religious beliefs have significantly affected the nature of economic activities within a
society (Mittelstaedt 2002). As technology opened up the
possibility of conducting these activities across wider geographic distances, the underlying religious tenets were sometimes modified to accommodate the new methods and actors
involved in trade (Stackhouse 2001). Religion and spirituality sometimes hindered the acceptance of new technologies
(as is the case with the beliefs of the Amish) or accelerated
their propagation. The motivation behind consuming products that accelerate globalization (e.g., the printing press or,
more recently, the Internet) has been spiritual for many consumers. Some scholars have asserted that both the quest for
technology and the quest for globalization are spiritually
motivated (Bauwens 1997; Noble 1997; Friedman 1999).
Noble (1997) observed, for example, that many of the important early engineers, particularly in the United States, were
Masons, and he described the development of a particular
kind of millennialismor at least a secularized form of religious utopianismamong engineers that became secularized and formed the outlines of technical movements such as
artificial intelligence. Muldoon (2002) emphatically argued
that our understanding of what is currently happening will
remain superficial so long as we conceive of globalization in
purely material terms. He contended that globalization is the
result of a vision of the right order of the world, a vision inextricably linked to Western Europes Christian past: Globalization exists not only because Europeans created worldwide
trade networks, but also because Europeans conceived of all
humankind as ultimately forming a universal community
(Muldoon 2002, 1). In essence, spirituality and religion do
not merely respond to globalization, but also have had a role
in shaping the globalization process.
Spirituality, Economics,
and Globalization
Although some contemporary scholars in theology have
viewed globalization as hindering authentic spirituality (cf.
Gaillardetz 2000; Groothuis 1997; Stackhouse 2000), spirituality and the process of globalization have, for the most
part, gone hand in hand, each shaping the course of the other.
Through the ages and across civilizations, the overarching
metaphor for spirituality is that of a journey or a voyage. A
journey or voyage entails leaving one land to go to another.
Likewise, globalization involves a foray into distant lands, literally, virtually, or symbolically. The metaphor of voyage figuratively underscores the link between spirituality and globalization, a connection emphasized by mystics like Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin (1959) and, more recently, by social
commentators such as King (2002) and Friedman (1999).
Spirituality and religion have played a key role in paving
the path to globalization. The earliest knowledge to traverse
national borders has mainly been of the spiritual kind.
Throughout millennia, religious evangelism has contributed
as much to foreign exploration and travel as has the hunt for
gold or spices. For example, around 325 B.C., Chandragupta
Maurya became a Buddhist and combined the expansive
powers of a world religion, trade economy, and imperial
armies for the first time. Around 1500 A.D., the Spanish
exploration of South America was marked by a strong motivation for religious proselytizing. Globalization has been
fueled not just by the intercontinental exchanges of goods and
services of the commercial kind, but also has been aided and
spurred by a desire to export religious ideologies by exchanging priests, monks, and mullahs across the globe. We thus

witness transnational religious organizations such as the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON),
the Church of Scientology, and, most notably, the Vatican.
Spiritual and religious goods and services have been exported
through the ages, thereby spreading Western religions to Asia
and introducing Asian practices such as yoga and Zen meditation to the Western world. Spirituality and religion have
also indirectly affected the globalization process through
economics.
The relationship between spirituality and economic life
has been ineffaceable through the ages, as has the relationship
between globalization and economic life. Throughout history, spirituality and religion have been integral to economic
activities. In hunting and gathering tribes, people have prayed
for good hunts and safe return. In agrarian communities, the
culture has always been replete with rituals and prayers for
plentiful rains and good harvests. Trading and fishing communities have prayed for a safe and fecund voyage. Religion
and spirituality have shaped the nature of trade by specifying
days and times of exchange, the commodities that can be
exchanged, and with whom one might trade (Mittelstaedt
2002). As suggested earlier, spirituality and religion have
accelerated the globalization process in some instances but
thwarted its progress in others. Stackhouse (2001) contended
that the basic morality that produced modern Western culture
and that has been the mother of globalizing technology,
communication, economic productivity, and democracy is
rooted in the Christian theological tradition. Similar
observations are echoed in other academic and popular
literature (Friedman 1999; Spickard 2001).
Quite a few philosophers and social scientists view globalization as analogous to the spiritual quest. In his bestseller,
The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman (1999, 338)
wrote, Globalization emerges from below . . . from peoples
very souls and their deepest aspirations. Friedmans olive
tree symbolizes stability, home, and family (broadly interpreted as the realm of the spiritual). Although visibly enthusiastic about the age of globalization, he wanted his readers to
develop a sense of God in the olive groves of their parents
home or their community, church, synagogue, temple, or
mosque.
Thomas King, a theology professor and Catholic priest,
argued that Friedmans observations regarding the connection between spirituality and globalization are not unique
(King 2002). As far back as 1920, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
made similar comments in his writings. Teilhards writings
significantly affected the thinking of future global economists and world leaders including Michel Camdessus, formerly the managing director and chairman of the Executive
Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Al
Gore, the former vice president of the United States. Teilhard
called globalization the deep-rooted religious movement of
our age (King 2002). His appraisal was based on the inherent similarity in the evolutionary roots of globalization and in
97
the mystics desire for the All. Teilhards interpretation of

global integration as a spiritually motivated phenomenon led
him to accurately assess the sea of change that was to come.
In the 1930s, he wrote about what he called the planetization
of mankind and the rebounding and unfolding of
humanity on itself (Sims 2000). Globalization, Teilhard
argued, was spurred by the same drives as the mystics yearning for interconnectedness and union. Teilhard used the
vocabulary of mysticism to describe global developments in
technology, industry, politics, and the environment, reported
King (2002, 25), and the ardor of his texts has led to their
being widely used for secular gatherings on global subjects.
Kings study of the works by Teilhard and St. Ignatius of
Loyola have led him to conclude that both these spiritual
luminaries made their mark as the early proponents of globalization in the truest sense; both envisioned a future when the
consciousness of all [would be] working together in a task as
great as the world itself (Teilhard 1967, 285).
Spirituality and Technology
The strong influence of technology in bringing about
globalization is obvious. But not many appreciate the implicit
relationship between technology and spirituality. Long
before Gutenberg developed the movable-type printing press
to publish large quantities of the Bible and other religious
texts, the close relationship between religion and technology
had been in evidence (Man 2002). Religion and spirituality, it
seems, have always exerted a strong influence on the invention and diffusion of technologyboth positively and negatively. Just as matters of the spirit helped our forebears understand and adopt new technologies such as the printing press,
they are doing so again in todays digital world with broadcast satellites, online prayer groups, and the Internet. Then, as
now, the technology-religion interplay brought about new
understandings of religion, giving birth to novel religious and
spiritual practices, and even sprouting new forms of religion.
Michael Bauwens (1999) went so far as to proclaim that
the technological quest is a spiritual quest. In defense of
this bold statement, he explained that the quest for the transcendental is wired in the human psyche. Even if we are not
spiritually inclined in the traditional sense, he argued, we
cannot help thinking about the totality of existence and
eventual transcendence. In explaining the transcendence
motive in technological innovation, he wrote, What used to
be sought in the supernatural [came to be] sought in material
reality, and science and technology became a means to
achieve transcendence.
Bauwenss ideas find support in David Nobles The Religion of Technology (1997). Noble used historical critical
methods in deconstructing the evolution of technology. He
demonstrated how the spirit-man, through Christianity,
emboldened Western culture to use technology for salvation.
Through numerous examples, Noble went on to establish that
technology inherently carries out a spiritual program for

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immortality, a new heaven, and a new earth, thereby trying to

compensate for the Fall of man.
Bauwens (1999) offered three main propositions linking
technology and spirituality: that technological development
can and does stimulate spiritual awareness, that spiritual
development is necessary for technological development,
and that technological and spiritual transhumanism are not
opposed to one another but should be integrated.
Margaret Wertheim (1999) offered similar observations in
her book, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace. Cyberspace, she
contended, is indeed a realm in which people are seeking
what used to be called paradise. Using the work of philosophers, scientists, and theologians, Wertheim demonstrated
how questions about what space is in religious and scientific
contexts can lead to great changes in how we see ourselves.
Wertheim viewed the cyberspace as hallowed, a sacred space
capable of not just informing the mind but of nourishing the
soul as well. The swelling numbers of self-confessed
technopagans on the Web lends credence to Wertheims
assertion. Bauwens (1997) made almost identical claims in
the online magazine, Computer-Mediated Communication:
Partly, the infinity that cyberspace creates, functions as an
ideal mechanism for the projection of our fondest hopes and
deepest fears. It therefore generates an extraordinary amount
of cultural energy, the fusion of techno-utopianism, the desire
for the spiritual liberation from the constraints of matter, and
the end of the millennium fears for the end of the world.
These admittedly bold assertions from scholarstechnocrats as well as philosophershelp us establish the sometimes explicit and always implicit relationship between technology and spirituality. Spirituality and technology operate in
tandem, both influence one another, and both may be driven
by the same motives. More importantly, both spirituality and
technology accelerate the pace of globalization!
TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY
SPIRITUALITY
We shall now explore five major facets of spirituality in the
contemporary globalized era. These relate to the use of spirituality and religion in reterritorialization, a worldwide quest
among the transmoderns to integrate spirituality in all aspects
of day-to-day life, the increasing individualization of spirituality, the enhanced manifestation of spirituality in
cyberspace, and the syncretization of spirituality.
Spirituality and Reterritorialization
In the midst of secularization trends, considered one of the
main manifestations of globalization, spirituality and religion
have assumed growing a public role and visibility. Catholic
priest and novelist Andrew Greeley (2001, 36) asserted,
Men and women still want something in which to believe
and to which to belong. They aspire to faith and community.

Spirituality and religion fulfill these needs.
The dissolution and porosity of national borders pose a
threat to the traditional collective identities of many people,
which in turn causes them to turn to religion to reclaim those
identities. A well-delineated identity fosters psychological
well-being and happiness. Loss of identity results in the state
of feeling deterritorialized.
Deterritorialization has been described as one of the main
impacts of contemporary globalization on cultural systems
(Basch, Schiller, and Blanc 1994). Giddens (1999) has
observed that globalization produces not only extensional but
also intensional change, leading to feelings of powerlessness
and alienation. This is in contrast to the territorialization created by modernity. In times of modernity, territorialization
involved a superior power (typically the state) excluding or
including people within geographic boundaries and controlling transboundary access and exchange. Such territorialization provided the citizens with stability and a feeling of
being centered. The move away from modernity and toward
contemporary globalization seems to have upset the
territorialization process (Berger, Berger, and Kellner 1973).
In his presidential address in the Sociology of Religion,
Casanova (2001, 426) explained,
By deterritorialization I mean the disembeddedness of cultural phenomena from their natural territories. Cultural
systems throughout history have been territorially embedded. . . . Globalization threatens to dissolve the intrinsic link
between sacred time, sacred space, and sacred people common to all world religions, and with it the seemingly essential
bonds between histories, people, and territories which have
defined all civilizations.
Civilizations function not only as material entities of real people in real physical spaces but also as ideological and cultural
spheres that people draw on to establish and maintain their
cultural identities, activities, and relationships. Disruptions
of geographical relocation and the dwindling role of the
nation-state have now left increasing numbers of people
feeling deterritorialized.
But globalization also opens up new avenues for people to
reterritorialize themselves. The vortex of time-place compression created by technological advances allows people to
forge links with kindred spirits across continents. The
deterritorialized can now harness technology to establish
relationships with others perceived as instrumental in the
reinforcing of ones identity. Internet newsgroups, mailing
lists, virtual communities of every description, and the current trend in mass media away from broadcasting and toward
narrowcasting can all be explained at least partially as
attempts at reterritorialization.
Paths toward reterritorialization differ, but the quest is
ubiquitous. Some seek reterritorialization through work
groups, support groups (single mothers, Alcoholics

Anonymous, and the like), and all kinds of virtual groups

designed to foster a sense of community or to share information and ideas about some salient issue. With this segment,
certain secular issues or interests serve as a means of forging
identity. Others, in increasing numbers, seek reterritorialization through religion. The reason for choosing religion as
the avenue for reterritorialization is that religion, until very
recently, has been very much community based and often
served as a surrogate for nationhood. Al Seckel (1986, 3)
wrote,
With very few exceptions, the religion which a man accepts is
that of the community in which he lives, which makes it obvious that the influence of the environment is what has led him
to accept the religion in question.
Because religion and nationhood are for the most part rooted
in geography, the loss of national ethos turns many to religion
as their primary source of identity.
The quest for reterritorialization through religion is often a
frantic one manifesting as religious fundamentalism and religious orthodoxy. Religious fundamentalism means going
back to religious fundamentals within a particular orthodoxy
of thoughts and using basic religious beliefs to guide thinking
and engagement in all aspects of contemporary life. Often,
this manifests into an obsessive preoccupation with rituals
and religious scriptures, and intolerance, even hatred, toward
nonbelievers. Instances of such reterritorialization are evident throughout the globe; religious reterritorialists comprise
a vocal part of every countrys populace. As the pace of globalization quickens, the need on the part of religious
reterritorialists to make their presence felt will intensify.
These sentiments have been echoed by Smart (1999, 15) who
wrote,
While religions often preach tolerance and benevolence, they
frequently emphasize otherness and hostility, which has contributed to global tensions. Also, because tensions in one
region are instantly known around the world, emigrants may
become active and work to strengthen the resistance movements at home, which exacerbates the original antagonism. . . . So globalization brings people together, but it may
also wrench them apart.
Of the 150 conflicts that have taken place between 1990

and 2002, only two have been international. More than thirty
have resulted in major wars, with 40 million people killed and
more than 45 million refugees created worldwide. Religion
has been a primary factor in several of these conflicts. It
stands to reason that the frequency of religious conflicts, both
between religions and among various factions of a religion,
will amplify as intensified globalization continues to accentuate the feeling of deterritorialization among the worlds
population.
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Spirituality and Transmodernity

Transmodernity is a new paradigm envisioned by the philosopher Enrique Dussel as one alternative to explain the
emerging global culture (see Dussel 1998). Transmodernism
seeks to bring together the best of modernity and the inherited
wisdom of religious traditions. Marc Luyckx of the Forward
Studies Unit of the European Commission in Brussels supported Dussels claim that the world is in a process of transition from modernity toward transmodernitywhich means
keeping the best of modernity but going beyond it (Luyckx
1999). The shift toward transmodernity, scholars argue, constitutes an irreversible process of the same magnitude as
industrialization. The paradigm of transmodernity involves
an affirmation of indigenous values, wisdom, and traditions
while adapting to a changing world.
Transmodernity is a negation of the fragmented life dictated by modernity. The late modern era boasted of the separation of religionand all matters spiritualfrom government and public affairs. Spirituality was seen as something
very private, something to be left behind when people
showed up for work or for participation in civic affairs. Governments and corporations were supposed to be a-religious.
The transmodern lifestyle, in contrast to the compartmentalization mindset of modernity, recognizes the pivotal role of
spirituality in defining a persons identity; it challenges the
arbitrary division of peoples lives between public and private, secular and sacred. Transmoderns seek relief from the
disjointedness imposed by modernism. For instance, respondents in the study by Mitroff and Denton (1999) reported that
attainment of their spiritual needs was one of the major determinants of job satisfaction, leading the researchers to conclude that modern civilization might have gone too far in
separating spirituality from other elements of life.
Similar findings emerge from the research undertaken by
sociologists Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson (2001). These
investigators have identified a large and growing group of
people (albeit in mostly Western countries) whose consumption patterns and lifestyles resonate the transmodern paradigm. Dubbed as cultural creatives, this group rejects the
more is merrier doctrine that so characterized the dominant
modern ethos of our time. The cultural creatives share values grounded in spiritual transformation, ecological
sustainability, and a sense of community. In contrast to the
narcissism often associated with Generation X, they reject
hedonism, cynicism, and materialism. They eagerly embrace
altruism and self-actualization, thus forging a new sense of
the sacred that incorporates personal growth psychology, the
spiritual realm, and service to others. Ray and Anderson
(2001) reported that around 50 million people in the United
States alone could be categorized as cultural creatives and
that another 50 million reside in countries included in the
European Union.

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With the transmoderns aspiring for greater integration of

their fractured self, one would expect to see spirituality more
explicitly sought, expressed, and manifested in both the work
sphere and the political sphere. Luyckx (1999, 972) went so
far as to assert that
the exclusion of spiritual and religious considerations from
politics and public affairs is no longer appropriate, even
though the distinction between the two realms needs to be
maintained. . . . [I]t now seems overwhelmingly likely that
religion, defined as organized spiritualitywill play a
weightier role in governance, and indeed individual spirituality will be an increasingly important element of leadership in
every domain.
Casanova (1994) offered similar observations, arguing that

the renewed cultural accent on spirituality has enabled religions to gain a new public relevance.
Faith Popcorn, a renowned futurist and author of Clicking
(Popcorn, Marigold, and Bierenbroodspot 1996) and The
Popcorn Report (Popcorn 1991), also predicted that spirituality in the coming decade will become much more integral to
the daily lives of Americans as companies and employers
begin scheduling meditation and spirituality breaks for
employees to pray or connect to the Beyond (Mattingly
2000). The transmodern spirituality envisioned by Luyckx
(1999), Ray and Anderson (2001), and others such as Lesser
(2000a) has the potential to pave the way leading to increased
dialogue between Western and non-Western cultures. This
will result in more syncretic forms of spirituality, a trend that
will be addressed later in this article.
Given the sharply different paths followed by those seeking reterritorialization through fundamentalist religion and
by those using the integrative approach of the transmoderns,
there is also a great potential for conflict. Political scientist
Harlan Cleveland, commenting on the nature of religious
conflict, said,
We believe the fault line is going to lie inside of the great religions, essentially between what are called, in various ways,
fundamentalistspeople who take their position to be very
important, and if other people dont share that tradition, then
theyre infidels, outside the system, and transmoderns,
those who believe that ancient tradition and current spiritual
inquiry lead to a greater spiritual tolerance of everybody
elses search for God. (Leach 1999)
Individualized Spirituality
Elizabeth Lesser (2000a, 21), author of The New American Spirituality, discussed the challenges and opportunities
offered to spiritual seekers in the globalized society. The
spirituality of the next millennium, she wrote,
will not offer easy answers, miracle cures, or ten ways to get
something for nothing. . . . Rather, seekers in the twenty-first
century and beyond will be given the opportunity to create a

personal and practical synthesis of the worlds wisdom traditions into a living theology that honors the full picture of
human spirituality: our soul and our body, our mind and our
heart, our individuality and our communion with others.
(Emphasis added.)
Observers of contemporary spirituality see a clearly visible trend toward spiritual values, principles, and practices
getting increasingly individualized. In his essay on contemporary Japanese spirituality, Inoue (2001) wrote that this
drive toward individualization has created a user-oriented
spiritual market. He defined this new market as a situation
in which each individual, in response to his or her personal
values and sensibilities, considers, selects, and tries out those
elements which he or she finds most attractive and suitable
from the mass of competing religions (Inoue 2001). Spiritual seekers, armed with unprecedented access to all kinds of
spiritual products and information, are making the most of
the immense assortment available to them. These developments are taking place with the concurrent worldwide trend
toward product and program customization at the level of the
individual.
Ninian Smart (1999, 16-17) commented, Another element of globalization, which results in part from the spread of
education, is the strong nisus toward individualism. Evident
in New Age thinking, it can also be seen in the various dimensions of religion. Traditional religion, a realm of the collective in many societies, now seems to be substituted, at least in
some parts of the world population, by a spiritual quest that is
more individualized.
William Van Dusen Wishard (2000), president of World
Trends Research, has made similar comments in his speech at
the Emery Reves Memorial Lecture series. When we look at
religions of the world whats happening? he asked. Massive fragmentation. In America alone, there are over 1,500
religions, including such contradictions as Catholic Buddhists. In a sense, religion is being privatized. The fragmentation and customization we currently witness will be further
accelerated by technologies such as the Internet and interactive television, which enable every individual to be a transmitter, receiver, and moderator of spiritual discourse.
Lesser (2000b) forcefully expressed the manifestation of
twenty-first-century spirituality when she wrote,
The big difference is the movement away from an external
authority figure and a movement toward an empowerment of
each seeker. It is not about being told what to do. Its about
each person deeply embodying the timeless spiritual teachings of love and generosity in a personal and genuine way. Its
about becoming ones own authority, so that our moral behavior and our cosmic awe stem from the inside out. . . . The 21st
century spirituality is just the time for spiritual seekers to be
lamps unto themselves and beacons of light for others.

Ron Sellers (1998) looked at the growth patterns of various denominations among Christians throughout the past few
decades. He wrote,
The emphasis on the individual is one reason for the increase
in Evangelical Christian denominations, often at the expense
of mainline Protestant or Roman Catholic churches. The
Evangelical mindset focuses on personal change, personal
spirituality, personal salvation. Mainline Protestant groups
often tend to focus more on societal change, and an emphasis
in Catholicism is the Church itself.
Cyberspace and Spirituality

An article recently posted on the Christianity Today Web
site carries the title, The Next Billy Graham May Be a
Robotan artificially intelligent Internet robot! As Internet
technology and its popularity have increased, the applications for Internet evangelism have as well. Ramo (1996) was
among the first journalists to notice the impact of the Internet
on the spiritual marketplace. Almost overnight, he wrote,
the electronic community of the Internet has come to resemble a high-speed spiritual bazaar, where thousands of the
faithfuland equal numbers of the faithlessmeet and
debate and swap ideas about things. . . . Its an astonishing act
of technological and intellectual mainstreaming that is
changing the character of the Internet, and could even change
our ideas about God.
The author went on to quote Sherry Turkel, the MIT sociologist who proclaimed, People see the Net as a new metaphor
for God.
Spirituality & Health Magazine (Survey Says Yes 2001)
reported a study by pollster George Barna that predicts that
by the decades end, more than 50 million Americans may be
using the Internet as their sole means of having religious
experiences. For an ever-growing band of believers, the
Internet has become a place where one can easily find God.
Web search engines now list millions of sites for seekers
interested in religious/spiritual information, online prayer
requests, and newsgroups. An Internet search on Google
recently conducted by the author picked up more than 19 million Web pages for the word Christian, 2,130,000 for Islam,
660,000 for Hindu, 461,000 for Wicca, and just fewer than 5
million for New Age. A similar search conducted on Yahoo
produced more than 3 million pages for the word spirituality
and one and a half times as many for the word religion.
As the Internet transcends barriers of time and space, Web
spirituality and Web religion enjoy an unprecedented accesibility on a global scale. Operating online also allows
long-established religious communities to reach nonallied
potential followers as never before. Besides, easy Web accessibility enables almost anybody to create new circles of faith
on the Internet. Brasher (2001) insisted that such events
firmly solidify the place of religion in the wired universe,
101
along with commerce and communications, thus meeting the

spiritual demands of Internet generations to come.
In a detailed survey of Protestants using the Internet for
religious and spiritual purposes, Bedell (2000) found that
more than 50 percent of the respondents used online information for information on religious traditions other than their
own. Besides providing information to spiritual seekers on a
previously unimaginable scale, Internet technology also
enables them to worship remotely in an asynchronous as well
as synchronous form. Helland (2003) classified Internet religious and spiritual offerings into two categories: religion
online and online religion. Religion online involves traditional forms of communication on a Web site. Here, information is presented in one-to-many fashion with no interactivity
involved. Online religion, on the other hand, mirrors the ideal
interactive environment on the Web and allows for many-tomany communication. The Web pilgrim visiting an onlinereligion site can participate in online prayer, worship, and
even meditation. Thus, although religion-online sites provide
spiritual information, online-religion sites provide information as well as opportunities for online spiritual practices.
Some spiritual and religious Web sites offer an impressive
range of multimedia resourcesquality images, Multimedia
Flash presentations, real-time Webcams, 360-degree panoramas, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, Web forms for
prayers, and e-mail addresses for pastoral care or prayer.
Another distinctive feature of the Internet is its inclusion
or ability to reach those who may find it difficult to participate
in traditional communal worship. For instance, the White
Crane Journal is an eclectic quarterly e-zine devoted to gay
mens spirituality. Gay Muslims can find spiritual solace on
Queer Jihad, lesbian Catholics can seek solace at Conferens
for Catholic Lesbians, and gay and lesbian Buddhists can
derive spiritual inspiration at Buddha Buddies. A survey by
the Pew Internet and the American Life Project found that 25
percent of all adult Internet users had gone online in search of
religious and spiritual material (Stellin 2001). This figure
surpasses the number of users visiting gambling sites, visiting online auctions sites, or trading stocks on the Net.
The sheer magnitude and scope of spiritual materials and
options available on the information superhighway seem to
imply that with proper regulation, the cyberspace activities of
individual groups will take on the characteristics of free
market competition on a global scale. They also portend
great transformations in the traditional structure of historical
religions (Inoue 2001).
Syncretic Spirituality
The final trend we shall discuss is somewhat related to the
individualization of spirituality, and it incorporates the
effects of globalization and technology on spirituality. We
shall call this trend the syncretization of spirituality.
Syncretism (Greek for draw together or combine), in a religious or spiritual context, involves the mixing of elements

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from hitherto different and independent religious or spiritual

traditions in the creation of a new belief system.
Syncretism has been evident in the new Japanese religions, most of which are based on elements taken from both
Shinto and Buddhism (Inoue 2001). In more recent times,
Inoue observed (2001), we see aggressive borrowing of various elements from Christianity, primitive Buddhism,
Theravada Buddhism, and even American New Age movements. In extreme cases, Inoue wrote, the doctrines appear
as little more than a patchwork concoction without coherence. To date, about 40 million Japanese have been converted by these new religions.
The information age has made it very convenient to gain
access to information regarding the teachings and practices of
various cults and religions. This ease of access encourages
exploration and experimentation like never before. In the
United States, we see new attempts at syncretism typically
involving a Christian base with teachings borrowed from
Hinduism, Buddhism, or other Eastern thought. Addressing
the issue of spiritual syncretism in the United States that has
been underway since the 1960s, Albanese (2000, 18) wrote,
It seemingly permeating everything, as polls showed onefifth to one-fourth of the American people embracing notions
of karma and reincarnation and speaking a cultural language
that evoked New Age ways of talkingabout the universe,
about energy, about self- and reality creation. Above all, it
pointed the way to religious combination as the essence of its
spiritual form. New Agers freely borrowed and appropriated
from a variety of traditions, and in turn invented their own. . . .
[T]heir movement grew and transformed and continued into
the twenty-first century.
Sellers (1998) cited blending of faiths as one of the major

global trends in religion. He attributed this trend to the worldwide mixture of peoples and faiths, and the ability to communicate across geographic lines. Sellers suggested that
syncretism is happening not just at the level of the individual
but at denominational leadership levels as well. He cited the
example of some mainline Protestant groups who have incorporated Native American practices and viewpoints into some
of their celebrations.
Inherent in the new syncretic spirituality in the United
States and elsewhere is the primacy of spiritual experiences
and spiritual experimentation. Through eclectic combination, an attempt is made to arrive at spirituality that is meaningful for a particular individual or group. The new spirituality full-blown among us, Albanese wrote, is less shy . . .
about its combinative tropes and figures. Americans today
live in [a] pronouncedly mestizo religious culture; in a Creole
spiritual marketplace in which purists are everyday fewer and
rarer (2000, 19-20). Partly to counter this do-it-yourself
spiritual mlange, some traditional religious institutions in
the United States are now broadening their appeal through
syncretism. Many mainline churches have yoga classes or

teach meditation practices associated with non-Western
traditions.
Syncretism in spirituality is not unique to Japan and the
United States. It is ubiquitous and gaining in magnitude and
intensity. The contemporary Latin American religious scene,
for instance, is no longer monolithic or Catholic. Rather, religious innovation and creative mixing of old and new symbols
and practices (both indigenous and imported) now adorn the
spiritual landscape in Latin America (Smith and Prokopy
1999). India, with its predominantly Hindu population and
host to around 18 percent of the worlds inhabitants, has
always exhibited syncretism in its spiritual practices. Notwithstanding the recent attempts by some to reterritorialize in
the name of Hindutva, the Hindu religion has always been a
fused tapestry, representing myths, signs, symbols, and practices inherited from different cultures and appropriated at different points in time. Native Chinese in Mainland China as
well as the widely scattered Chinese diasporas have, for centuries, also exhibited heterodoxy in their spiritual practices
and beliefs. Here, Confucian philosophy has been seamlessly
blended with Buddhist teachings andmore recently
Christian practices. Berger (2001) alluded to similar trends in
Europe, what researchers like Harvieu-Lger have called
bricolage spiritualitypeople putting together a religion
of their own like children tinkering with a lego-set, picking
and choosing from the available religious material (quoted
in Berger 2001, 448). The process of spiritual syncretismin
vogue for hundreds, even thousands, of years in some regions
and for only a few decades in otherswill only intensify with
escalating migration and ever-increasing access to information technology among all peoples of the world.
MACROMARKETING IMPLICATIONS
The five trends discussed above foretell the emergence of
a new spiritual ecology that resonates the challenges, opportunities, and influences of accelerated globalization. At
a time when spiritual needs ascend in salience, the crossfertilization of sacred ideologies, practices, and rituals have
created a spiritscape like nothing we have experienced
before. The task for governments, civic bodies, policy makers, as well as corporations is to take cognizance of this
spiritscape in formulating appropriate policies and strategies.
This is no easy undertaking because the spiritscape evident
today seems in a state of flux, intent on including all and sundry in some instances, and bent on exclusion in others. Full of
paradoxes and superficial contradictions, the global spiritual
ecology needs urgent scrutiny on the part of macromarketing
scholars. Each trend evident in the contemporary spiritual
landscape affects the quality of life of the worlds inhabitants
as well as the role traditionally played by governments in regulating markets.

Throughout the past decade or so, macromarketers have

been increasingly concerned about the quality of life (QOL)
of consumers (Day 1992; Sirgy 1986; Sirgy and Lee 1996;
Peterson and Malhotra 2000). QOL has been defined as the
general state of well-being experienced by societys members (Morris, Sexton, and Lewis 1995). QOL studies have
been conducted at both macro and individual levels (Amato
and Amato 2002), but the impact of spirituality on QOL has
been missing in both conceptualizations. Recent data from
management disciplines and health sciences suggest that
spiritual fulfillment should be an important component of a
persons overall state of well-being (Mitroff and Denton
1999; Fogel 2000). Fogel, the 1993 Nobel Prize winner in
economics (and a self-confessed atheist), has argued that corporations and other social actors need to urgently address
societal concerns such as the struggle for self-realization, the
desire to find a deeper meaning in life, and education for
spiritual values.
The importance and urgency of spiritual well-being are
likely to vary across various groups and societies. Researchers working in the QOL domain, therefore, need to assess the
salience of spiritual well-being to various societies and incorporate spiritual satisfaction in their QOL scales accordingly.
Reintegration of spirituality in everyday life may change peoples very perceptions of what it means to have a quality life
(e.g., the cultural creatives).
This raises several questions worthy of further research. If
spirituality is to become an important component of peoples
perceived life quality, and if peoples spirituality is to be
increasingly individualized, can these issues ever be assessed
by objective QOL measures? Most probably, the ways of
assessing QOL will need to embrace ethnographic research.
Or a combination of a spiritual satisfaction index (weighted
according to salience) along with the traditional objective
QOL measures will provide a more accurate picture.
The role that religion has traditionally played in shaping
the nature and conduct of marketing activities in society has
been alluded to earlier. Mittelstaedt (2002) argued that religion affects the activities of markets through political, institutional, social, and competitive means. Religion, thus far, has
exerted its authority on markets through the nation-state. If
the nation-state as the regulator of markets becomes less and
less influential with increasing globalization, as the hyperglobalists are prone to argue, who will then be in charge of
exerting religious authority? From which religion should
such authority spring? Or will the influence of religion on
market institutions and marketing progressively weaken?
What impact would the lack of religiously oriented regulation
have on the efficiency of markets? These are all issues that the
community of scholars will have to grapple with in the coming years. Religious scholars and macromarketing researchers need to engage in meaningful dialogue to assess whether
some kind of transnational and transreligious norms and ethics could guide global commerce. The United Nations
103
Universal Declaration of Human Rights could provide some

guidance, but more specificity is needed to make the charter
effective whereby it provides direction for effective regulatory mechanisms. When market functioning is left to pure
market mechanisms or to multinational corporations or other
powerful special interest groups, the QOL is likely to further
deteriorate for a sizable portion of the worlds already underprivileged inhabitants (Klein 1987; Hill 2002). Research and
cross-disciplinary dialogue are urgently needed so that
Friedmans (1999) olive tree would actually shelter those
people experiencing the sweltering heat of globalization.
Deterritorialization, an outcome of globalization, contributes to increased religious fundamentalism (Casanova 2001;
Vasquez and Marquardt 2000). Advances in global communication have enabled deterritorialized diasporas of various
religious and ethnic groups to contribute to fundamentalist
movementsmorally, ideologically, and financially. Activities on the part of fundamentalist groups to destabilize civil
societies have a direct bearing on marketing activities. Such
disruptive activities violate the human rights of others. The
September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and
the bombing of a nightclub in Bali on October 16, 2002, are
just two examples. Macromarketers need to apply their
knowledge of psychology and culture to suggest benign ways
with which to deal with the rising incidence of deterritorialization. How should globalization be promoted so that it does
not pose a serious threat to identity? What systemic mechanisms are needed to absorb the shocks of deterritorialization
wrought by globalization? These and other similar issues
merit immediate attention.
Increasing globalization implies a greater incidence of
cross-national segments for spiritual goods and services. The
Evangelical movement, for instance, has become truly worldwide. Seventy percent of Evangelical churches are in nonWestern nations today, compared with 30 percent in 1960
(Sellers 1998). Macromarketers could contribute toward
enhancing spiritual wellness and thus QOL by conducting
studies whereby the main cross-national segments of the spiritual marketplace are studied and profiled. This is a departure
from the comparative systems approach traditionally
adopted by macromarketers wherein marketing systems
between two or more countries have been the focus of investigation. An orientation away from country-specific nuances
and toward cross-national groups is needed in the face of
deterritorialization. The macromarketing discipline has
focused on the material welfare of the worlds inhabitants for
quite some time. This article suggests that matters of the spirit
also be included in our assessment of wellness.
Spirituality in cyberspace is another topic that needs further investigation. Pilgrims in cyberspace tend to exhibit a
very strong commitment to faith in comparison with the population at large (Larsen 2001). From a macromarketing perspective, it is important to understand how the Internet as a
channel of delivery for spiritual goods complements or

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affects the traditional communal channels such as churches.

What are the costs and benefits associated with online religion as opposed to the traditional channels of delivery? Does
online religion accelerate the deterritorialization process, or
is it a response to deterritorialization? Do consumers of
online religion report greater satisfaction in the fulfillment of
their spiritual needs as opposed to those seeking the spiritual
in more traditional outlets? These are important issues to further our understanding of the relationship between delivery
channels and perceived QOL in the spiritual domain.
Another issue worthy of introspection is how to ensure fair
competition in spiritual e-commerce. Currently, the wealthier
traditions and denominations are paying large sums of money
to appear as the first sites recommended by various search
engines. As the Web continues to expand, this feature will
become even more relevant. Will financially strong providers
create a monopoly of sorts, thus restricting assortment at a
time when spiritual consumers want more choices and greater
assortment? If so, what regulatory measures should be put in
place to maximize consumer welfare? Spiritual seekers will
undoubtedly welcome any suggestions from macromarketers
in this regard.
The rising incidence of syncretic spirituality will influence the way in which traditional providers of religion conduct themselves. Some mainstream religious groups have
tried to modify their product mix by incorporating elements
of other religions or spiritual practices in their offering. Others have resisted this pressure to adapt and insist instead on
positioning themselves as the real thing. Among seekers of
syncretic spirituality, some prefer readymade syncretic solutions, whereas others adopt a do-it-yourself approach in
choosing individual elements in beliefs or practices and then
blending them to form a customized spiritual program. How
is the preference for syncretic spirituality related to the culture of a society? Does syncretic spirituality at the individual
level promote interfaith dialogue at the national or global
level? If so, can such dialogue offer constructive solutions to
deterritorialization and the rising tide of fundamentalism? It
is important for macromarketers to reflect on these matters.
Doing so will yield a richer understanding of the nexus
among spirituality, culture, deterritorialization, and the conduct of religious institutions in the contemporary spiritual
marketplace. It will also bring a consumer behaviorbased
marketing perspective to the broader issues of pluralism and
multiculturalism, the defining systemic trends of our time.
CONCLUSION
Diana L. Eck (2001, 37) has written,
We cannot live in a world in which our economies and markets are global, our political awareness is global, our business
relationships take us to every continent, and the Internet connects us with colleagues half a world away and yet live on
Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday with ideas of God that are

essentially provincial, imagining that somehow the one we
call God has been primarily concerned with us and our tribe.
The time has indeed come for scholars of spirituality and religion to wake up to the reality of present-day globalization
with its attendant technological, economic, and social
changes. The societal changes brought about by this paradigm shift have drastically affected the global spiritscape.
History informs us that the new spiritscape will not simply
react to globalization; it will also shape the future of
globalization.
In this article, I examined the links among spirituality, economics, technology, and globalization. I navigated an interdisciplinary body of literature to uncover five main trends in
contemporary spirituality. Each of these trends will have an
influence on various aspects of spirituality and religion
doctrines, philosophical aspects, ethical and moral implications, experiential and emotional manifestations, social outreach activities, ritual and practical expression, and mythic
and narrative dimensions. The strong link between spirituality and overall well-being (or quality of life) underscores the
importance of these trends for macromarketers.
Spirituality and globalization are not divorced from each
other in motives, as became evident in my discussion on the
writings of King, Teilhard, Friedman, Bauwens, Noble, and
Wertheim. Teilhard, for instance, consciously took spiritual
phrases from contemplatives and mystics, and applied them
to active life within the global context. His concept of the
noosphere was a vision of globalization and the Internet
technology in one. This connection between the spiritual
quest and globalization, intuitively discovered by the early
mystics, mandates a greater role for spirituality in discourses
on globalization. Spiritual seekers and economic rationalists
are both drawn to the possibilities of mammoth interconnectedness inherent in globalization. When they may differ or,
more accurately, when they do differ is in their attitude
toward the consequences of globalization.
For the most part, the trends in spirituality we have discussed here augur well for the future of our planet. Nonetheless, it behooves us all to pay heed to Kings (2002, 33) verdict on spirituality and globalization:
Globalization has become the defining reality of our times.
Since it speaks to the soul, we can be contemplatives in action
as never before. We might consider again the vision of
Teilhard so that the emerging world is shaped according to
hungers of the soul; otherwise, we will have created a soulless
monster that will consume us.
The interconnectedness inherent in both globalization as well

as spirituality makes these ideal topics of study for
macromarketerssystems thinkers concerned about more
than just the bottom line.

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Spirituality, Religion, and Globalization

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Spirituality, Religion, and Globalization

Issues of spirituality and religion are seldom discussed in the

Few topics invoke as much passion among present-day

social relations and activities, resulting in a palpable sense of

time and across customer segments (Belk, Wallendorf, and

spirituality as an inner state of being, or the heart or force

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

involves a sense of ones being or consciousness, and how

Meaning. The search for meaning in life has been a key

The Beyond could mean many thingshigher power,

Several authors have sought to differentiate spirituality from

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

For the purpose of this article, we shall view religion as a

nation-states are being subject to massive economic and

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

Homo erectus from Africa 500,000 to 1 million years ago, the

The argument regarding the long history of globalization

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witness transnational religious organizations such as the

the mystics desire for the All. Teilhards interpretation of

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immortality, a new heaven, and a new earth, thereby trying to

and to which to belong. They aspire to faith and community.

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Anonymous, and the like), and all kinds of virtual groups

Of the 150 conflicts that have taken place between 1990

Spirituality and Transmodernity

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With the transmoderns aspiring for greater integration of

Casanova (1994) offered similar observations, arguing that

century and beyond will be given the opportunity to create a

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Cyberspace and Spirituality

along with commerce and communications, thus meeting the

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

from hitherto different and independent religious or spiritual

Sellers (1998) cited blending of faiths as one of the major

syncretism. Many mainline churches have yoga classes or

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Throughout the past decade or so, macromarketers have

Universal Declaration of Human Rights could provide some

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

affects the traditional communal channels such as churches.

Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday with ideas of God that are

The interconnectedness inherent in both globalization as well

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

Dussel, E. 1998. Beyond Eurocentrism: The world-system and the limits of

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

Riggs, Fred W. 2000. Globalization: Key concepts. July. http://

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

Walsh, F. 1998. Strengthening family resilience. New York: Guilford.

Downloaded from http://jmk.sagepub.com by Oscar Amat on November 19, 2007

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