Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 2011 The Social Ethic of Religiously Unaffiliated Spirituality Siobhan Chandler Wilfrid Laurier University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Chandler, Siobhan, "The Social Ethic of Religiously Unaffiliated Spirituality" (2011). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1113. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1113 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ••• Canada The Social Ethic of Religiously Unaffiliated Spirituality by Siobhan Chandler Bachelor of Arts Queen's University, 1994 Master of Arts University of British Columbia, 2001 Thesis Submitted to the Department of Religion and Culture in the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies Wilfrid Laurier University ©Siobhan Chandler 2011 Abstract Since the sixties, sweeping social change has led to a massive restructuring of North American religious life. This includes the emergence of privatized forms of religiosity that operate without an institutional context. This trend is captured by the growing prevalence of individuals who describe themselves as 'spiritual but not religious'. Despite its popularity, critics worry that privatized religiosity is undermining more socially responsive forms of traditional religious engagement. They think that private religion does not lead to the types of face-to-face interactions needed to build social trust and foster a vibrant public sphere. In short, they think it lacks social capital. Following Robert Putnam, I investigate how much social capital Canadians who I describe as 'spiritual definitely not religious' (SDNR) produce relative to the religiously committed and average Canadians. Specifically, I measure the levels of 1) social trust, 2) involvement in civic associations, 3) volunteerism, 4) charitable giving, and 4) political engagement (e.g. voting) present among individuals who say spirituality is important to them, but who do not belong to a religious group. Research methods included 32 in-person interviews and an online questionnaire circulated across Canada. My results suggest that SDNRs are high in social trust, and in some cases, their rate of participation in associational activities is higher than 1) the average Canadian and 2) the religiously committed. They do not surpass the religiously committed, however, in terms of formal volunteering, charitable giving, and electoral political ii activities. To some extent, this challenges Putnam's contention that high social trust drives formal associational and political engagement. To account for this, I argue that SDNRs are 'expressive-postmaterialists'. The confluence of their monism, expressivism and postmaterialism—described in the theories of sociologist of religion Steve Tipton, and political scientist Ronald Inglehart— shape their socio-political morality. As such, their social values and style of political engagement are in many cases, distinctive from the religiously committed. I suggest that future research will want to explore how SDNRs' moral orientation coincides with alternative avenues of social and political engagement, and how these might be considered potential sources of social capital. in Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who contributed to the completion of this project. First, I want to thank Dr. Lome Dawson who shares my enthusiasm for understanding the social significance of new religious movements, and who was open to exploring the parameters of religiously unaffiliated spirituality in this context. His support for my vision gave me the necessary tools to bring my social engagement theory to light, and the courage to persevere with what at times felt like a rather controversial thesis. Thank you very much for mentoring and supporting me over the years. It has been my great pleasure to work with you. I was also fortunate as well to have the critical appraisal of many other talented social scientists, namely Drs David Seljak, Douglas E. Cowan, Peter Beyer, Paul Heelas, Stef Aupers and Dick Houtman, who in different ways contributed to the quality of the final product. I would also like to thank Dr. Chris Ross and the faculty in the Religion and Culture department at Wilfrid Laurier University for their support and help. A special thank you to Dr. Kay Koppedrayer for her assistance arranging funding for me at a critical interval, and nominating me for a teaching award. To my parents, Colin and Margaret Chandler, thanks are not enough to express my deep gratitude for all you have done for me. Dad, no doubt I inherited my love of books and study from you. Mum, you always encouraged me to think for myself and follow my truth in life. I now see that it was this combination of traits that has enabled me to succeed at this endeavor. With your help I have been iv able to achieve a milestone of enormous personal significance. Thanks too to my amazing and talented siblings. Simon—computer ace brother—for all the help including late night virus removal and document retrieval services. You saved what I did not, and rescued me from certain insanity. To my sister Margaret thank you for your editing assistance and shrewd advice on a range of matters from publishing magazine articles to teaching tips. __ A few more personal thanks go out to Kasha and Pierre Desjardin, my KW family, who welcomed me when I first arrived here and looked out for me over the past five years. To my wonderful friends Mitra Bhikkhu, Tammy Lea Meyer, Lorri Lamb, Laurent Freidel, Mandy Daniels, Margie Patrick, Edith Looker, and Heather Gurd, thank you for the phone calls, visits, emails, parcels, meals, walks, and other acts of inspiration, generosity, encouragement and loving kindness that kept me going through thick and thin. I would also like to thank "Lumper," Toby Peter, Tom Wilkenson and Sheila Fodchuk for—in very different ways—getting me here. Finally, many thanks to David Tiviluk and the staff of Bikram Yoga in Waterloo for keeping me 'fit to sit' and deal with the physical and mental challenges inherent in big projects such as this. Hot yoga has improved my life beyond measure. v i AUTHOR'S DECLARATION "The Social Ethic of Religiously Unaffiliated Spirituality" appears in the Introduction. Author's copyright: Religion Compass 2008 2(2): 240-256. The author would also like to thank Brill for their kind permission to reproduce sections of "Private Religion in the Public Sphere" which appears in Stef Aupers and Dick Houtman (eds.) Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital (2010) 69-87. vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV AUTHOR'S DECLARATION VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ~ VII TABLE OF FIGURES XIV INTRODUCTION 1 RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY 3 FROM COUNTERCULTURE TO MAINSTREAM SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE CRITIQUE OF RELIGIOUSLY UNAFFILIATED SPIRITUALITY 12 THE SOCIAL CHARACTER OF RELIGIOUSLY UNAFFILIATED SPIRITUALITY: WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SUGGEST? 17 A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DISCERNING THE SOCIAL ETHIC OF RELIGIOUSLY UNAFFILIATED SPIRITUALITY 23 CENTRAL HYPOTHESES AND DESIGN OF THIS STUDY 25 OUTLINE OF THESIS 28 A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY 33 CHAPTER 1 35 WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY? MOVING TOWARDS A DEFINITION 35 INTRODUCTION 35 vii THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN