Search results

This study aims to better understand the Islamic consumption incentives because the spectacular flourishing of the halal market in different places around the world has grown the interest in understanding and deciphering the mechanisms behind its development.

Through an exploratory study of some Tunisia-based Islamic groups’ purchasing behavior, this paper investigates factors leading to the purchasing of halal goods (Islamic consumption).

Findings show that the Islamic consumer is more of an Islamist than simply a Muslim. In addition, findings show that halal consumption is not merely related to religious affiliations but also the product of numerous cultural, social and psychological factors.

In addition to Islamism and Islamic activism, this paper puts in evidence the role of some post-structural factors such as identity, nostalgia and hedonism in relation to the buying intention of halal products and services.

Purpose – Turkey has undergone a major market transformation during the recent decades. This chapter seeks to explore the role of religious politics in some Turkish informal workers' pro-capitalistic change of heart as a response to that transformation.

Methodology/approach – The study is based on participant observation and interviews in a squatter district in Istanbul, Sultanbeyli. This is a two-phase ethnography, consisting of first-hand observations first during 2000–2002, and then in 2006. The fieldnotes are supplemented by 90 interviews.

Findings – Islamic mobilization eases the transformation of habitus in a liberalizing society and the transition from the predominance of social capital to the predominance of economic capital. I contend that the sub-proletariat's dispositions depend on (urban as well as national) historical context and articulation to political and religious movements.

Originality/value of paper – I discuss Bourdieu's study of the transition from subsistence-driven economies to market economies. The chapter points out that Bourdieu's approach to the problem of transition is more satisfactory in comparison to modernization theory and resistance studies. However, I will show that the problems Bourdieu identifies in Kabylia and Béarn (such as “fatalism of despair”) are less salient in Istanbul because of a sociopolitical movement (Islamism) that garners consent among the sub-proletarians by using religion as a disciplining force.

How do heretical social movements build and negotiate their collective identities? This chapter tackles this question by examining the case of an emerging social movement, the left-wing Islamists in contemporary Turkey, that cuts across the durable divide between Turkey’s left and Islam. Drawing on four months of fieldwork in Turkey, I argue that, in addition to activating the typical “us versus them” dynamic of contentious politics, the left-wing Islamists also rely on blurring the social and symbolic boundaries that govern political divides in the course of building their collective identities. Their social boundary blurring includes facilitating otherwise unlikely face-to-face conversations and mutual ties between leftists and Islamists and spearheading alliances on common grounds including anti-imperialism and labor. Their symbolic boundary blurring includes performing a synthesis of Islamist and leftist repertoires of contention and reframing Islamic discourse with a strong emphasis on social justice and oppositional fervor. The case of Turkey’s left-wing Islamists illuminates the process of boundary blurring as a key dimension of collective identity and alliance formation across divides.

In this chapter, the authors investigate the correlation between social and economic indicators and Islamic finance, to see whether increasing Islamic banking will increase account penetration in Muslim majority countries. Inclusive financial services are beneficial to a country as a whole, especially for poorer individuals, giving them more access to investment and financing opportunities. Shari’ah law has guidelines for banking that Muslims must follow and many believe that commercial banks do not follow these guidelines. As many individuals cite religious reasons as their excuse for exclusion, there is potential to develop Islamic finance as a means of improving financial access in certain countries. The authors find that individuals from the countries in our study tend to be more religious and that there are potential economic and social benefits to an increase in Islamic banking in this region.

The paper examines recent debates on “Empire” and offers a feminist perspective. It asks: what are the gender dynamics of the new imperialism and its rival, Islamism? Drawing on world-system theory and feminist studies of international relations, this paper examines hegemonic masculinities in empire, war, and resistance; the cooptation of women's rights for neoliberal and expansionist purposes; the world-system's transition from U.S. hegemonic power to an alternative yet to be determined; and the role of global feminism in challenging Empire and shaping an alternative world.

This paper, based on recent research undertaken in an East London borough, describes the changes in political, religious and cultural life that have contributed to a changed consciousness among some Muslim young people. It focuses on the history, the social processes and the organisations involved in what is sometimes called ‘radicalisation’, and concludes with some thoughts about how CDRPs might begin to work with Muslim young people to address these issues.

We are beginning to observe the growth of Islamic finance beyond the borders of traditionally Islamic markets such as the Middle East and the Far East. The proliferation of such religious financial institutions in non-Islamic and more secular markets has raised some pertinent questions about how these quasi-religious institutions brand themselves in light of the need to balance the conflation of Islamic theology with that of financial economic principles.

The study adopts a process-based qualitative methodology proceeded with an initial data reduction-theoretical conceptualization of the extant literature. This is followed by data display via quote research of participants’ precepts and concludes with a synthesis the extant academic conceptualizations with empirical perspectives.

The findings highlight a framework explaining the interface between Islamic and non-Islamic participation on the branding of Islamic financial institutions in the UK. The findings also set forth a need for consideration of non-religious and purely economic participation in the Islamic financial system in light of branding.

This study derives its incremental contribution by extending the extant academic literature on the branding and consumption of Islamic financial products and services within non-Islamic and secular markets. Furthermore, by adopting a multi-disciplinary, qualitative lens and engaging pertinent individuals within the field, the study provides a rich framework from which to explore the branding of these quasi-religious institutions and the interface between religious and non-religious consumption. This framework puts forth to the leaders of Islamic financial institutions of the between- and within-group interactions in terms of religio-financial consumption and branding.