The logic of the market and the logic of belief in the creation of symbolic goods

Abstract

This paper describes and analyzes situations in which practices that traditionally had a religious meaning acquire an increasingly mercantilized sense and in which those practices that used to be considered as secular or profane generate a new sense of sacredness and transcendence. From the analysis of these situations the authors offer a reflection on the agents, scenarios, symbols and rituals used by contemporary individuals to experience innovative ways to establish a relationship with the sacred within the variety of religiousness a la carte.