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Neither a sinner nor a saint: Health as a present-day religion in the age of healthism

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Abstract

In Western societies, religious imagery is often used in conjunction with the topic ‘health’ in this biomedicalized, healthistic time, but is that enough to qualify the structural characteristics of the presentations and practices of health as a present-day health religion? And what may be gained by adopting such a perspective? This article explores these questions by a hermeneutical rereading, using a comprehensive list of 10 religious features derived from the sociology of religion on texts describing (a) religiously charged health phenomena, (b) the interconnection between health and society and (c) health theories. The results show that health can rightfully be called a religion, with characteristics resembling Weber’s protestant work ethic, which may accelerate the formation of a new economic and health-related underclass. Viewing health from a religious angle has the potential of introducing new concepts and ideas of religious origin into the sphere of health. We believe that this introduction will facilitate and inspire new ways of thinking about health which add a ‘religious edge’ to the seeming rationality of health, that is, an emotionalized commitment to health as a dignified authority, which an understanding of health as a moral obligation hardly captures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences & Society, Karolinska Institute, Alfred Nobels Allé 23, Huddinge, S-141 83, Sweden

    Britta Pelters

  2. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Gender and Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, S-581 83, Sweden

    Barbro Wijma

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  1. Britta Pelters
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  2. Barbro Wijma
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Correspondence to Britta Pelters.

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Pelters, B., Wijma, B. Neither a sinner nor a saint: Health as a present-day religion in the age of healthism. Soc Theory Health 14, 129–148 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2015.21

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