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Ambivalent Atheist Identities: Power and Non-religious Culture in Contemporary Britain

Lee, Lois (2015) Ambivalent Atheist Identities: Power and Non-religious Culture in Contemporary Britain. Social Analysis, 59 (2). pp. 20-39. ISSN 0155-977X. (doi:10.3167/sa.2015.590202) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:60428)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/sa.2015.590202

Abstract

In Britain, most non-theists and atheists do not identify themselves as such in explicit terms, yet non-theistic cultural threads are interwoven through everyday discourses. This article calls for more extensive ethnographic engagement with these more diffuse—and therefore less visible and less commonly researched—forms of non-religious culture. Based on exploratory fieldwork conducted in South East England, it draws attention to one set of these indistinct non-religious forms: 'authentic' and 'inauthentic' ambivalent atheist and non-religious self-understandings and self-representations. It demonstrates how these identities may be subjectively meaningful and culturally significant and how they may be simultaneously empowering and disempowering. Scrutiny of ambivalent atheist identities points to complicated dynamics between non-religion and power and the value of attending to poorly or unmarked non-religious cultures through ethnographic work.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.3167/sa.2015.590202
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Lois Lee
Date Deposited: 17 Feb 2017 10:14 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 11:01 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/60428 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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