Social Media and Religious Change / / ed. by David Eric John Herbert, Anita Greenhill, Marie Gillespie.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DGBA Backlist Complete English Language 2000-2014 PART1
• MitwirkendeR: Abrams, Nathan,; Baker, Sally,; Brown, B. J.,; Campbell, Heidi A.,; Fletcher, Gordon,; Fulton, Drake,; Gillespie, Marie,; Greenhill, Anita,; Haughey, Rebecca,; Herbert, David,; Knott, Kim,; Lynch, Gordon,; Nauta, Arjen,; Pihlaja, Stephen,; Poole, Elizabeth,; Taira, Teemu,; Thomas, Lyn,
• HerausgeberIn: Gillespie, Marie,; Greenhill, Anita,; Herbert, David Eric John,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2013]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Religion and Society , 53
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (232 p.)

This volume offers unique insights into the mutually constitutive nature of social media practices and religious change. Part 1 examines how social media operate in conjunction with mass media in the construction of discourses of religion and spirituality. It includes: a longitudinal study of British news media coverage of Christianity, secularism and religious diversity (Knott et al.); an analysis of responses to two documentaries 'The Monastery' and 'The Convent' (Thomas); an evaluation of theories of the sacred in studies of religion and media within the 'strong program' in cultural sociology in the US (Lynch); and a study of the consequences of mass and social media synergies for public perceptions of Islam in the Netherlands (Herbert). Part 2 examines the role of social media in the construction of contemporary martyrs and media celebrities (e.g., Michael Jackson) using mixed and mobile methods to analyse fan sites (Bennett & Campbell) and jihadi websites and YouTube (Nauta). Part 3 examines how certain bounded religious communities negotiate the challenges of social media: Judaism in Second Life (Abrams & Baker); Bah'ai regulation of web use among members (Campbell & Fulton); YouTube evangelists (Pihlaja); and public expressions of bereavement (Greenhill & Fletcher). The book provides theoretically informed empirical case studies and presents an intriguing, complex picture of the aesthetic and ethical, demographic and discursive aspects of new spaces of communication and their implications for religious institutions, beliefs and practices.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- 1. Introduction: Social Media and Religious Change -- 2. Media and the Sacred: An Evaluation of the ‘Strong Program’ within Cultural Sociology -- 3. Christianity, Secularism and Religious Diversity in the British Media -- 4. Religion for a Postsecular Society? Discourses of Gender, Religion and Secularity in the Reception of BBC2’s The Monastery and The Convent -- 5. Paradise Lost? Islamophobia, Post-liberalism and the Dismantling of State Multiculturalism in the Netherlands: The Role of Mass and Social Media -- 6. Modern-day Martyrs: Fans’ Online Reconstruction of Celebrities as Divine -- 7. Radical Islam, Globalisation and Social Media: Martyrdom Videos on the Internet -- 8. Grassroots Religion: Facebook and Offline Post-Denominational Judaism -- 9. Truck Stops and Fashion Shows: A Case Study of the Discursive Performance of Evangelical Christian Group Affiliation on YouTube -- 10. Bounded Religious Communities’ Management of the Challenge of New Media: Baha’í Negotiation with the Internet -- 11. Life, Death and Everyday Experience of Social Media -- 12. List of Contributors -- Index