Neo-liberal subjectivities and the emergence of spiritual entrepreneurship: An analysis of spiritual development programs in contemporary Romania

Abstract

This article analyzes the changes in industrial relations and labor market in Romania during the past two decades and explores the neo-liberal socialization devices that have emerged after the financial crisis and the way they offer legitimacy to the vast economic transformations that took place in this region. Using the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach I investigate the specific forms of dis-embedded neoliberalism institutionalized in Romania and the precarisation of the workforce through labor market de-regulations, short-term contracts and emphasis on the flexibility and employability of workers. The article focuses on the outburst of spiritual development programs and the vast field of alternative spiritualities that haves proliferated in Romania and the way this cultural change mediates the formation of an immanent spiritualized ethics of authenticity that lends itself to the creation of a new ‘spirit of capitalism’ (Boltanski and Chiapello, 2007).