Why are women more frequent users of holistic practices? A Bourdieuian analysis of recent spiritual trends in Serbia
Keywords:
holistic practices, feminism, yoga, Bourdieu, religious fieldAbstract
The study of female religiosity has long been invisible in academia, while the religious life of men has been viewed as the norm in the study of religion and new religions. Due to the academic inclination towards textual and doctrinal studies of predominantly male religious institutions, the framework of religious life occupied by women, often outside religious institutions, is virtually non-existent. When women’s status was modernized within world religions, there was a strong backlash. Activities carried out by women were often not considered religious by anthropologists or were labeled with other terms such as magic, witchcraft, or superstition. This paper recognizes an increasingly prevalent form of modern female religiosity and offers a Bourdieuian analysis as a response to the context in which this phenomenon arises, highlighting the pronounced dichotomy between the genders of practitioners.
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