Wray, L. Randall - The Rise and Fall of Money Manager Capitalism - A Minskian Approach
New Age Capitalism Making Money East of Eden
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book reviews 479 that reflects the current state of Scandinavian folkloristics and ethnology while deepening anthropologists' understanding oi the poli- tics of tradition. New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden. Kimberly Lau. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. 178 pp., bibliog- raphy, notes, index. JEFF SNODGRASS Colorado State University In New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden, Kimberly Lau explores ironies accompanying the New Age movement's transition from counterculture to main- stream. Lau argues that the New Age, once associated with hippies and flower children, is now driven primarily by market forces and dominant cultural fantasies—such as yoga studios that can gross $30,000 a week while selling a desire to be thin rather than enlight- ened. New Age alternative lifestyles, though still partly fueled by a desire to escape the U.S. obsession with wealth, are now neither truly alternative nor new. Rather, they reflect cosmetic retoolings of the United States' en- during romance with money—a "New Age Capitalism." In each oi the book's three central chap- ters Lau examines contradictions attending recent successes of the New Age movement, focusing on aromatherapy, macrobiotics, yoga, and t'ai chi. What does it mean, for in- stance, that aromatherapy products, though supposedly rooted in ancient Egyptian and Indian beliefs in the curative power of scent, are now commonly sold as bath and body sprays in shopping malls? Or, alternately, that Fortune 500 companies routinely hire yoga instructors to improve employee pro- ductivity? Lau explains these apparent con- tradictions with reference to the German so- ciologist Ulrich Beck's notion oi "risk society" {Risk Society, Sage Publications, 1992). According to Beck, the successes oi industrialization have spawned a prolifera- tion of technologies and toxins that threaten human life and health. New Age practices, in classic orientalist fashion, promise an es- cape from these modern Western dangers by returning to an "imagined past existing prior to industrialization, a past epitomized by ref- erences to more integrated relationships with nature and the interconnectedness of all livingthings" (p. 9). Aromatherapy products, then, tap into a desire for a "fragrant eden" (p. 32) free of technological modernity. This ex- plains why they are typically marketed as hav- ing been developed in partnership with primi- tive peoples from deep in the rainforest. Because macrobiotics links the faithful to a natural diet more in line with those predating the modern agrarian revolution, it emphasizes a 7:1 ratio of vegetable to animal products, seven being a number that supposedly reflects the natural human complement of teeth. And yoga and t'ai chi, especially as promoted to tourists in supposedly "natural" settings like Costa Rica, also promise a return to a more naturally integrated life. Lau admirably demonstrates how these movements, in exotic guises, reproduce dominant U.S. concerns. Aromatherapy, she argues, reflects a capitalist fragmentation oi the body into independent parts and thus separate product lines. Macrobiotics, she convincingly suggests, is a screen for the U.S. obsession with thinness. And U.S.-style yoga and t'ai chi do seem increasingly shorn of philosophical underpinnings, becoming modes oi low impact exercise in the quest for bodily perfection. Nowhere is this more ap- parent than in videos such as Buns oi Steel Power Yoga and Buns of Steel T'ai Chi. Nonetheless, I was not convinced oi the analytical utility of the notion oi "risk soci- ety" to explain these phenomena. Modern technologies have surely eliminated as many risks as they have created—this would be especially true for the affluent who figure prominently in New Age movements. In fact, Lau's desire to identify the central anxiety underlying these practices—the perception of danger to personal health posed by mod- ernity—seems out oi sync with the overall tone of the book. Lau is at her best when trac- ing the way New Age practices are inflected by complex and even contradictory discur- sive fields oi consumption, body type, and morality—for example, yoga practitioners who simultaneously strive to be petite Japa- nese and leggy Jane Fondas. In fact, Lau seems to argue that much of the energy oi the New Age lies in its appeal to contradictory ideals; at the very least, this allows slippery marketers to work their magic on the largest possible number of consumers.
Transcript of New Age Capitalism Making Money East of Eden
book reviews 479
that reflects the current state of Scandinavianfolkloristics and ethnology while deepeninganthropologists' understanding oi the poli-tics of tradition.
New Age Capitalism: Making Money East ofEden. Kimberly Lau. Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Press, 2000. 178 pp., bibliog-raphy, notes, index.
JEFF SNODGRASSColorado State University
In New Age Capitalism: Making MoneyEast of Eden, Kimberly Lau explores ironiesaccompanying the New Age movement'stransition from counterculture to main-stream. Lau argues that the New Age, onceassociated with hippies and flower children,is now driven primarily by market forces anddominant cultural fantasies—such as yogastudios that can gross $30,000 a week whileselling a desire to be thin rather than enlight-ened. New Age alternative lifestyles, thoughstill partly fueled by a desire to escape theU.S. obsession with wealth, are now neithertruly alternative nor new. Rather, they reflectcosmetic retoolings of the United States' en-during romance with money—a "New AgeCapitalism."
In each oi the book's three central chap-ters Lau examines contradictions attendingrecent successes of the New Age movement,focusing on aromatherapy, macrobiotics,yoga, and t'ai chi. What does it mean, for in-stance, that aromatherapy products, thoughsupposedly rooted in ancient Egyptian andIndian beliefs in the curative power of scent,are now commonly sold as bath and bodysprays in shopping malls? Or, alternately,that Fortune 500 companies routinely hireyoga instructors to improve employee pro-ductivity? Lau explains these apparent con-tradictions with reference to the German so-ciologist Ulrich Beck's notion oi "risksociety" {Risk Society, Sage Publications,1992). According to Beck, the successes oiindustrialization have spawned a prolifera-tion of technologies and toxins that threatenhuman life and health. New Age practices, inclassic orientalist fashion, promise an es-cape from these modern Western dangers byreturning to an "imagined past existing priorto industrialization, a past epitomized by ref-erences to more integrated relationships
with nature and the interconnectedness of alllivingthings" (p. 9). Aromatherapy products,then, tap into a desire for a "fragrant eden" (p.32) free of technological modernity. This ex-plains why they are typically marketed as hav-ing been developed in partnership with primi-tive peoples from deep in the rainforest.Because macrobiotics links the faithful to anatural diet more in line with those predatingthe modern agrarian revolution, it emphasizesa 7:1 ratio of vegetable to animal products,seven being a number that supposedly reflectsthe natural human complement of teeth. Andyoga and t'ai chi, especially as promoted totourists in supposedly "natural" settings likeCosta Rica, also promise a return to a morenaturally integrated life.
Lau admirably demonstrates how thesemovements, in exotic guises, reproducedominant U.S. concerns. Aromatherapy, sheargues, reflects a capitalist fragmentation oithe body into independent parts and thusseparate product lines. Macrobiotics, sheconvincingly suggests, is a screen for the U.S.obsession with thinness. And U.S.-style yogaand t'ai chi do seem increasingly shorn ofphilosophical underpinnings, becomingmodes oi low impact exercise in the quest forbodily perfection. Nowhere is this more ap-parent than in videos such as Buns oi SteelPower Yoga and Buns of Steel T'ai Chi.
Nonetheless, I was not convinced oi theanalytical utility of the notion oi "risk soci-ety" to explain these phenomena. Moderntechnologies have surely eliminated asmany risks as they have created—this wouldbe especially true for the affluent who figureprominently in New Age movements. In fact,Lau's desire to identify the central anxietyunderlying these practices—the perceptionof danger to personal health posed by mod-ernity—seems out oi sync with the overalltone of the book. Lau is at her best when trac-ing the way New Age practices are inflectedby complex and even contradictory discur-sive fields oi consumption, body type, andmorality—for example, yoga practitionerswho simultaneously strive to be petite Japa-nese and leggy Jane Fondas. In fact, Lauseems to argue that much of the energy oi theNew Age lies in its appeal to contradictoryideals; at the very least, this allows slipperymarketers to work their magic on the largestpossible number of consumers.
480 american ethnologist
Anthropologists, however, will not be con-tent to challenge Lau in her own terms by dis-puting the centrality oi risk or debating exactlywhich kinds of orientalist fantasies drive thesemovements. Lau's book is based entirely ontextual analysis of promotional videos, yogacatalogues, advertisements, New Age maga-zines, news articles, and self-help videos. Asa professor oi English, she is not a field-worker and conducted no interviews for thebook. If Lau were to have spent time with ac-tual New Agers, for example, by centeringaround a local yoga center or health foodstore, she might have felt compelled to lo-cate this movement's attractiveness in thepower oi community rather than in clevermarketing. I also wonder to what extent suchlocal communities—or at least those not sointent on selling themselves to the widestpossible market—would appear co-opted bydominant ideology. Also, I wonder whyLau's contact with New Age practitionersdid not encourage her to move beyond fan-tasy or even ideology into deeper kinds of ex-perience, commitment, or pain. She does notprovide such deeper kinds of motivation or asense of the different kinds of persons drawnto these movements. Finally, some may evenask if part of the appeal of these practices liesin the fact that they work—that they actuallydeliver on their claimed health benefits.
In short, Lau's book has much to recom-mend it. She serves as an insightful and humor-ous guide through a bewildering array oi NewAge discourses. The book is beautifully writ-ten, and Lau's arguments about the power oidiscourse and ideology are demonstrated inher own descriptions. She is not averse to usingher skill with words to summon the orientalistappeal oi these discourses. For example, shedescribes the manner in which the ancientGreeks drenched the wings of tame birds withperfume, allowing healing odors to spread asthe birds flew about the room. Still, while ac-knowledging the ideological power oi NewAge discourses, anthropologists will insist oncomplementing Lau's works with other kindsof studies grounded in fieldwork, psychology,and even physiology. Such additions, I mightsuggest, could lend Lau's work a health at leastequal to that promised by all those clever NewAge marketers.
UnstructuringChinese Society: The Fictionsof Colonial Practice and the Changing Reali-ties of "Land" in the New Territories of HongKong. Allen Chun. Amsterdam: HarwoodAcademic Publ ishers, 2000. xi + 348 pp., tables,map, bibliography, appendix, index.
EVE DARIAN-SMITHUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
In Unstructuring Chinese Society AllenChun offers an innovative, insightful, andhighly sophisticated analysis of colonial prac-tices and the significance they played and con-tinue to play in constructing concepts of tradi-tion, custom, society, and land in rural HongKong. The author engagingly notes that thiswork began as a rather conventional study oithe cultural dimensions oi kinship and socialorganization in a traditional, single lineageHakka village of the northern New Territories.Chun's first-hand experiences in the fieldforced him to shed many of the methodologi-cal and theoretical assumptions that informgeneral anthropological understandings of so-called traditional Chinese culture. This shift inChun's research agenda and aims came aboutas he increasingly grew to understand themeaning and role oi land as defined and regu-lated by a British colonial authority, and rede-fined and modified within local village con-texts. "Land", writes Chun,
is the common interface that reveals the es-sential differences between the regime oicolonial governmentality and traditionalpractices. Land has become the point of ap-plication not only for the colonial govern-ment's definition oi the village and theconstituent community, but more impor-tantly for the regulation oi local life in soci-ety as a whole, [pp. xiv-xv]
While land operates as a source of economicand social survival, which is how many anthro-pologists analyze land use, Chun argues thatanthropologists must view land in terms oi itssecondary levels of symbolism and practice, asa "function oi community values (or lack oithem)" (p. 5).
Chun details why anthropologists tend toreify what they perceive to be the nature of Chi-nese social organization by drawing on a widerange oi contemporary theoretical discus-sions, including literature on globalization,postcolonialism, and the complex relationshipbetween anthropology and history. According
