A Matter of Choice: A Micro-Level Study on how Swedish New Agers Choose their Religious Beliefs and Practices

Jenny-Ann Brodin

Rationality and Society, 2003, vol. 15, issue 3, 381-405

Abstract: A necessary, but surprisingly neglected, postulate within economic and rational choice theories on religious phenomena is that religion is a matter of individual choice. But what does it actually mean to choose religion? Is it a choice similar to other choices - or is it something rather different? In this article individual choices of religious beliefs and practices, both from theoretical and empirical points of view, are discussed. The empirical material consists of ten in-depth interviews within one particular, and also rather special, religious field - namely the Swedish New Age movement. Some of the main findings concern the respondents' strategies to estimate costs/benefits and to reduce different kinds of uncertainty. In the interviews we find an interesting duality. On the one hand there seems to be a highly individualized ideology, stressing individual responsibility and authority; on the other hand social contacts and recommendations seem to be of great importance.

Date: 2003
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:15:y:2003:i:3:p:381-405

DOI: 10.1177/10434631030153005

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