Contemporary New Age Transformation in Taiwan : A Sociological Study of a New Religious Movement

The first comprehensive analysis in English of the social dimension of Tawian's New Age movements, this work employs a qualitative approach to test the ideas that underlie many sociological accounts of New Age phenomena and late modernity, for the purpose of explaining the movement's distinctive path of development.

This book is a sociological study of the New Age Movement (NAM) in Taiwan, examining the ways in which some Taiwanese people use New Age beliefs and practices in order to respond to the challenges of living in a rapidly changing world.

The author also explores the neglected yet critical issues of emotions and embodiment in New Age practices.

This study makes significant contributions to the understanding of these phenomena from a social science perspective by combining critical analyses of wide-ranging theoretical concepts with thorough empirical investigation.

This is the first comprehensive analysis in English of the social dimension of Taiwan's New Age phenomena, while employing theory to place the subject matter in a global context.

This work will appeal to specialists in the study of spirituality and religion in this era of globalization. It also can serve as a text suitable for students of New Age and alternative spiritualities as well as for general readers hoping to understand beliefs and practices that are growing in popularity and becoming absorbed into popular culture.