Rethinking religion in the context of ethnicity and wellbeing

Jafari, Aliakbar and Özhan Dedeoğlu, Ayla and Regany, Fatima and Üstündağli, Elif and Batat, Wided (2015) Rethinking religion in the context of ethnicity and wellbeing. Marketing Theory, 15 (2). 287–295. ISSN 1470-5931 (https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593114553329)

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Abstract

Identifying the ‘religion-ethnicity-wellbeing’ nexus as an understudied topic in marketing and consumer behavior research, we propose three main trajectories for future research: Firstly, given the politics of religions, there is a need for studying societies that suffer from and are affected by religio-ethnic tensions and also different types of risks that threaten people’s wellbeing in such contexts. Secondly, future research should investigate how and why markets may generate and mediate religio-ethnic prejudices and antagonism that put society’s wellbeing at risk. Thirdly, with the upsurge of transcultural alternative religiosities/spiritualities, researchers should examine how through the processes of religious hybridization and hybrid consumption people change their existing consumption patterns and how alternative religiosities/spiritualities influence their sense of wellbeing, particularly in contexts where religious shifts are resisted.