Personal development and religion in the workplace in Slovakia: from life meaning to religious selves

ABSTRACTA growing number of studies on religion and spirituality in the workplace point towards religious functions of work and the importance of spirituality for managing employees. Yet, religion remains a blind spot for the sociology of personal development in the workplace. Based on two years of qualitative research on Slovak employees, CEOs and other professionals, this article explores how work engagement via personal development narratives is a source of meaningfulness in the respondents’ lives to the point that their relation to work has become sacralised. Moreover, personal development at work implies the mobilisation of religious selves, either theistic or holistic. The study thus highlights the role of religion in the context of work while shedding light on transformations of religion in the capitalist context.KEYWORDS: Lived religionalternative spiritualitynew spirit of capitalismre-enchantment AcknowledgementsI am grateful for the helpful remarks from the two anonymous reviewers.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Alternative spiritualities include body-mind-spirit practices, New Age, paganism and theistic spiritualities (Vincett and Woodhead Citation2009).2 I avoid the dichotomy of religious and secular in my analysis following Gauthier (Citation2020). Based on the theory of social differentiation between religion and the rest of the society, the dichotomy is normative and ideological corresponding to the modern fight against religion.3 However, if spirituality does not replace the scientific concept of religion, it remains a relevant term to be taken into consideration because it is widely used (Streib and Klein Citation2016).4 This article understands work as a modern category that developed gradually from 16th and 17th centuries onwards to embrace diverse activities of production and exchange (Méda and Vendramin Citation2013: 14-17).5 Contrary to other European Union countries, the industrial sector represents 30% of the labour market (Hrnčiar and Rievajová Citation2020) while the service sector stands for 62% (Bunčák et al. Citation2013). Slovakia also suffers from a substantial brain drain (Bednárik Citation2018; Bunčák et al. Citation2013).6 A strong working identity is also encouraged by the absence of family obligations (Méda and Venramin Citation2013: 66).7 Coaching is a process of guiding people and helping them to develop their potential and skills, mostly in professional life (Salman Citation2021, 9).8 These are practices such as the transactional analysis, neuro-linguistic programming, the enneagram personality test, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, emotional intelligence, mindfulness and so on. Some of these practices have explicit religious origins in New Age and Buddhism (Chen Citation2022; Stevens Citation2011).9 Bratislava is the capital and the dominant centre of Slovakia. There is substantial difference between Bratislava and other parts of Slovakia in terms of educated population, economic, social and cultural development and infrastructure (Gajdoš Citation2013).10 Additional information could lead to the identification of companies. Because of the limited extend of ethnographic research, they are not necessary.11 ‘Sčítanie obyvateľov, domov a bytov Citation2021,’ Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky, https://www.scitanie.sk/#/. Accessed 22 June 2023.12 The minimum wage in 2021 was 623 euros. (‘STATdat Verejná databáza údajov Public database,’ Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky, http://statdat.statistics.sk/. Accessed 22 June 2023). Even the wage of the part-time student employee in the small company was bigger).13 Participant observation was limited to four visits in the studied working places and one online seminar participation.14 Roma population represents a large proportion of the lowest social class with unequal access to education in Slovakia (Bunčák et al. Citation2013; Gajdoš Citation2013).15 According to Wilson (Citation2014), mindfulness's roots in Buddhism can be made less overt in the process of mystification (psychologisation, scientisation, spiritualisation, whitening), but it does not mean that mindfulness meditation is not a Buddhist meditation.Additional informationFundingThis publication is an outcome of the ERC CZ project no. LL2006 (‘ReEnchEu’), funded by the Czech MŠMT.Notes on contributorsZuzana BártováZuzana Bártová is a senior lecturer of sociology at the University of Southern Bohemia in České Budějovice. She gained her PhD in the study of religion at the University of Strasbourg (2019). Her research focuses on the qualitative sociological study of contemporary Buddhism in Europe and personal development at work, including the impact of neoliberalism and consumer culture on religion and the links between religion and social class.