This thesis is an anthropological exploration of the connections between witchcraft, religious transformation, and Hindu nationalism in a village in an Adivasi (or 'tribal') area of eastern Maharashtra, India. It argues that the appeal of Hindu nationalism in India today cannot be understood without reference to processes of religious and social transformation that are also taking place at the local level. The thesis demonstrates how changing village composition in terms of caste, together with an increased State presence and particular view of modernity, have led to difficulties in satisfactorily curing attacks of witchcraft and magic. Consequently, many people in the village and wider area have begun to look for lasting solutions to these problems in new ways. A significant number have joined a Hindu religious sect, the Mahanubhav Panth, seen as particularly efficacious in matters of healing. Membership of this sect however alters the values and practices of adherents which not only causes conflict with non-sect neighbours and kin but also resonates powerfully with the messages promoted by Hindu nationalist agents in the area. The thesis engages key areas of anthropological concern: the relationship between individual action and social structure; kinship and sociality; State activity; and religious conversion.

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The thesis looks at Singapore and asks in that nation's continuing process of nation-building which includes attempts to hold on to consistent economic growth, whether through the proposal to formulate a national ideology with a delineation of "shared values", a civil religion was also in the process of being constructed. There is a short summary of Singapore's history, with emphasis given to how the nation has developed and grown because of its awareness as a economic centre or "commercial emporium" in its geographical locality. Account is also given of the role of the ruling party, and government - the Peoples' Action Party - in terms of its policies in guiding the young nation to economic success. An examination of the ideology of the ruling party is then undertaken. This leads on to an account of the Singapore government's efforts to implement a National Ideology through a list of Shared Values and the reasons why this is thought necessary for the sake of the nation. The category or concept of civil religion is then introduced, with specific examples from the American situation. There is further discussion of the Shared Values to show clearly the ideological impulses and Confucianist influences behind them, and after due reference to what "Asian values" might mean, and how Confucian values may have influence on the economic success of East Asian countries, it is reaffirmed that the Singapore government was promoting what can be called a civil religion in the form of the National Ideology (which incorporated such Confucian values) to enhance and continue the economic growth that makes up so much of the perceived destiny of the nation. The concluding sections deal with the role (or lack of it) of Christians and the Church in the ongoing political, economic and social life of the nation. Does it matter if a Singaporean civil religion or a National Ideology may be in conflict with a Christian ideology? Does the Singapore Church care

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For over a century, many have been predicting the demise of religion within Western societies. However, while individual religiosity has mutated since the Victorian era, many studies since the 1960s have shown that the contemporary social realities of religion are complex and varied. More recently, evidence has been pointing towards a new development: one of a growing divide between the religious and the secular, or in other words of religious polarisation. The present research explores the logistics of how, where, when and why this polarisation has been developing in post-industrialised countries. In so doing, we thoroughly test a hypothesis that has long been an afterthought to many a secularisation theory. Analysing repeated cross-sectional data from a variety of national and regional contexts, we find examples of non-Nordic, mainly Protestant areas with higher initial rates of non-affiliation being characterised by a form of religious polarisation. These areas have seen a shrinking of their middle-ground group of nominally affiliated individuals, their populations splitting more and more into two camps: a larger group severed from institutional religion contrasts a small but proportionally steady core of affiliated individuals frequently attending religious services. Additionally, in areas with more advanced secularisation, average differences between these unaffiliated and religiously committed individuals regarding many attitudes, beliefs and personal practices are greater. Yet, these polarisation configurations and trends are not universally found across post-industrialised nations. Even within polarised contexts, social distance between the religiously committed and the unaffiliated has not necessarily grown. For example, levels of intermarriage and intercohabitation have not changed beyond the constraints of the marriage market. With these findings, we begin to establish the degree to which religious polarisation is becoming a new reality, and to what extent policy makers will have to contend with a new social cleavage along secular/religious lines.

The religion versus modernity dichotomy has become a platitude which is taken for granted by many researchers in the field of sociology of modernity. The dichotomy is the theoretical foundation of many violent ideologies, both religious and atheist. This thesis challenges the dichotomy and its variants – such as reason versus faith or ‘the sacred’ versus ‘the secular’ – as the results of the misreading of the history of the constitution of modernity. Modernity is historically shaped by and structurally intertwined with theology and sociologists’ need to reveal those theological forgotten roots and hidden structures. This is the first goal of the thesis which begins with the search for the theological roots of modern atheisms. Showing the theological unconscious of the modern atheist discourses will let us to see two sides of modern Prometheanism: The first side, which is well-known, is about the rebellion against the transcendental and considering the transcendental as the projection of the human mind into the sky. The point is that there can never be an overwhelming consensus about either this Promethean description of the origins of religion or another description of man being the projection of God on earth. We, nevertheless, are living in a society which contains both of those options and a lot more alternative possibilities in between. So, while we cannot reach an overlapping consensus about the principles, we can pragmatically engage in the process of self-formation through co-practice. The argument is that the desire of self-formation, self-creation and self-actualisation is the second side of Prometheanism which will prepare us with a framework for co-practice.

This thesis presents a reflection on a series of published papers which attempt to explore, in the systematic way, the interface between guru-led and Hindu-inspired faith movements, Indic spirituality and social work through conceptual and empirical considerations. The context of guru-led and Hindu-inspired faith movements, and their spirituality, has been explored through a meta-analysis, followed by qualitative studies of five contemporary guru-led movements and their distinctive styles of seva or social service – “mission”-isation; syncretism, lived religion and organised charity; millenarianism, post-apocalyptic vision and social service; humanity, divinity and service; and austerity, nationalism and service. This is followed by a study of followers/adherents who participate in social services of these guru-led and Hindu-inspired faith-movements and beneficiaries, through five fairly large datasets. The first dataset is on adherents of these movements and what motivates them to join, serve and gain. The second dataset is on followers of a particular new movement and how they derive their sense of well-being from the same. The third dataset is on beneficiaries of social initiatives of these movements and organisations. The fourth dataset is beneficiaries of a particular spiritual programme of the Art of Living Foundation called the Sudarshan Kriya. The fifth dataset is on a similar spiritual programme for adolescents and how it positively influences them. Theoretically it can be said that the adherents and beneficiaries together form a habitus of these movements. I finally discuss, through two published works in social work journals, as to how a specific spiritual technique of a guru movement and spirituality in general is perceived as having critical bearings for the social work discipline in the contemporary Indian and South Asian contexts. The structure of the thesis illustrates the progressive nature of the research and demonstrates how the component parts come together to form a cumulative and coherent case. The collection of works argues the following contentions, to make critical contributions to the domain knowledge of guru-led movements, faith, spirituality and social work. Guru-led and Hindu-inspired faith movements use social service as a legitimising trope. Guru-led and Hindu-inspired faith movements have implicit and explicit spiritual techniques, which accompany the social service/work package. Followers and beneficiaries of these movements gain materially and spiritually, which keeps them motivated to be aligned. This in turn contributes to the fellowship of guru-led movements. For the social work discipline, the phenomenon of guru-led movements is an important aspect to be paid attention to. Their social service engagements call for a need for working in or with guru-led movements as a part of social work practice horizon. With this focus, in the published works, implications for the discipline of social work are drawn out and made explicit. The power of a cumulative study using a range of empirical tools is shown.

Cette thèse portée sur l'émergence d'une identité musulmane européenne aspire à mettre en lumière les mécanismes qui sous tendent ce phénomène social. Au travers de la question de l'identité sociale, nous avons émis l'hypothèse d'une corrélation existante entre les deux concepts d'intériorisation en sciences sociales, et d'internalisation intrinsèque à la mondialisation en économie. La conceptualisation d'un processus d'"intériorisation-internalisation" que nous proposons dans cette thèse, permet d'une part, d'inscrire le processus de construction de cette identité sociale dans le contexte de la mondialisation. D'autre part, elle permet de proposer une nouvelle grille d'analyse quant à la lecture de certains faits sociaux relatifs aux Européens de confession musulmane. / This study, which is dedicated to the emergence of a European Muslim identity, shed light on the mechanisms underlying this social phenomenon.Through the issue of social identity, I suggest that there is a correlation between two concepts: "interiorization" as defined in social studies, and the concept of "internalization " defined in the economic field as being intrinsic to globalization. Based on these two concepts, my own observations and research made among European Muslims, I suggest in this thesis the formulation of a concept of "interiorization-internalization". On one hand, this new concept allows the process of the formation of a European Muslim social identity within the context of globalization to be described. On the other hand this new concept suggests a new standard of analysis regarding some social phenomena European Muslims.