A sociological review of the New age movement

Presjek New Age-a pokazuje njegov upitan status religije, karakteristike, ciljanu populaciju i učenja. Kombinacija je to različitih istočnjačkih religija s ciljem prevladavanja duhovne krize nastale u moderni. Pokret je eklektičan, usmjeren na mlade i obrazovane ljude te koristi interreligijsku terminologiju. Njegov je karakter antiinstitucionalan što se ogleda u horizontalnoj mreži moći i čovjekovom potencijalu da postane božanstvo. Posljednje se koristi u svrhu edukacija u poslovnom svijetu, većinom za menadžere. Sociološko proučavanje New Age pokreta izazovno je, a neadekvatne teorije su sekularizacija, modernizam i Weberov koncept karizme. Kao sinteza raznih religija, New Age se u svojim svjetonazorima ne udaljava previše od ideologija svojih sastavnica, a ishod povezanosti je ideologija, a ne njezin sadržaj. Osim pučkih očitovanja i onih elitističkih (koja izjednačuju pozitivnu znanost s novom paradigmom) moguće je novu ideologiju odrediti pomoću najnovije hermeneutičke i fenomenologijske filozofije koje su neotuđive sastavnice postmodernosti.The analysis of the New Age movement shows its questionable religious status, characteristics, targeted audience, and learnings. It is a combination of different eastern religions with the goal of overcoming the spiritual crisis that occurred in modernism. The movement is eclectic, directed towards young and educated people, and uses an interreligious terminology. Its character is anti-institutional which is reflected in the horizontal web of power and the human potential to become deity. It is utilised in education within the business world, mostly for managers. Sociological research of the New Age movement is challenging, and theories like secularisation, modernism, and Weber`s term of charisma are not adequate. New age in its viewpoint doesn’t distance itself too much from its ideological components, and the outcome interconnection is ideology, and not the content. Besides popular manifestation and the elitist ones (which equalize positive science with a new paradigm) it is possible to determine the new paradigm with the help of the newest hermeneutic and phenomenological philosophy which are inalienable components of postmodernism