Sociologists of religion have recently focused on the growth of religious individualism in Western societies. Whether seen as a new religious trend or as a cultural correlate to the general weakening of civic organizations in the contemporary era, it is often presented as the growing tendency in religious life. It is also frequently presented in a positive light. This article explores a different alternative. Based on the work of Herbert Marcuse, it asks whether religious individualism heightens or undercuts the possibility of opposition to the status quo. Marcuse’s underlying argument implies that when religion becomes a lifestyle choice, it becomes just another consumer good—one that encourages a one-dimensional “happy consciousness” that lacks the depth to support true social critique. In this view, religious individualism undercuts human emancipation.

中文翻译：

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“宗教个人主义的阴暗面：马库斯式的探索”

宗教社会学家最近关注西方社会宗教个人主义的发展。无论是被视为一种新的宗教趋势，还是被视为与当代公民组织普遍弱化的文化关联，它往往被视为宗教生活中的增长趋势。它也经常以积极的方式呈现。本文探讨了一种不同的选择。基于赫伯特·马尔库塞 (Herbert Marcuse) 的工作，它询问宗教个人主义是增强还是削弱了反对现状的可能性。马尔库塞的基本论点暗示，当宗教成为一种生活方式的选择时，它就变成了另一种消费品——它鼓励一种缺乏支持真正社会批判的深度的单维“快乐意识”。在这种观点下，