Holy Inequality! Why class matters in the way we talk about religion, and about everything else, too

James Dennis LoRusso will present this research talk as part of a series of events with the CSR's SP26 visiting scholarinitiative.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, scholars of religion increasingly have acknowledged the need to consider economic inequality in their research, resulting in several compelling critical studies on religion and capitalism. Despite this fruitful work, research on religion nonetheless inadequately addresses the concept of “class” in ways that impoverish our understanding of religion in society. Specifically, it too often fails to parse how class dynamics operate in ways distinct from other dimensions of social inequality (racial, gender, religious, etc.). This echoes and reinforces broader deficiencies in public discussions about religion and other aspects of culture. The study of religion, LoRusso argues, requires a more theoretically sophisticated notion of class that makes greater room for materialist interpretations of religious life. Throughout this lecture, LoRusso will discuss examples of religious scholarship but also from media and popular culture that illustrate how a class-focused analysis fosters new insights. Greater attention to class will enrich more than the study of religion; it promises to provide a fresh framework for making sense of the larger social, economic and political crises we face today. 

Dr. James Dennis LoRusso's research focuses on the intersection of religion and political economy with particular attention to subject formation and the reproduction of inequality under capitalism. LoRusso is the author of Spirituality, Corporate Culture, and American Business: The Neoliberal Ethic and the Spirit of Global Capital (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017) and editor of On The Subject of Religion: Charting the Fault Lines of A Field of Study (Equinox in 2022).