The Sacred Santa: Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Effort
Review: A compelling work relating consumerism with religions. deChant delves into comparisons between shaman, priests, etc. as they exist within the today's religion of economy (he says economy serves the same function as nature did in relgions of old-- that is, it is an uncontrollable power that must be appeased).

The main point-- Christmas has not been desacrilized. Rather, it has become a sacred holiday of the emerging dominant religion, consumerism.

This is a splendid work for anyone interested in religion, post-modern culture or sociology.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Effort
Review: A compelling work relating consumerism with religions. deChant delves into comparisons between shaman, priests, etc. as they exist within the today's religion of economy (he says economy serves the same function as nature did in relgions of old-- that is, it is an uncontrollable power that must be appeased).

The main point-- Christmas has not been desacrilized. Rather, it has become a sacred holiday of the emerging dominant religion, consumerism.

This is a splendid work for anyone interested in religion, post-modern culture or sociology.

Rating:
Summary: Sacred Santa Delivers
Review: Dell deChant's The Sacred Santa: Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture, is a fascinating study of America's most dominant religion: consumerism. With just enough academic emphasis to lend credibility without becoming boring, deChant paints a picture of how our acquire-consume-dispose oriented society resembles cosmological religions of the past. Using the latest research combined with examples of how we participate in consumerism's myths and rituals, the author explains the underlying psychological forces that compel us to buy merchanidise throughout the calendar year, but especially during the "high holy days" of Christmas. Christmas and other holidays will never look the same to those who read this book. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Sacred Santa Delivers
Review: Dell deChant's The Sacred Santa: Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture, is a fascinating study of America's most dominant religion: consumerism. With just enough academic emphasis to lend credibility without becoming boring, deChant paints a picture of how our acquire-consume-dispose oriented society resembles cosmological religions of the past. Using the latest research combined with examples of how we participate in consumerism's myths and rituals, the author explains the underlying psychological forces that compel us to buy merchanidise throughout the calendar year, but especially during the "high holy days" of Christmas. Christmas and other holidays will never look the same to those who read this book. I highly recommend it.