Keywords
Citation
Aliakbar Jafari (2013), "Proper Islamic Consumption: Shopping among the Malays in Modern Malaysia", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47 No. 8, pp. 1368-1370. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561311324246
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Understanding the relationship between religion and the market is an established topic within the disciplines of marketing and consumer behaviour research. Many scholars have endeavoured to investigate how the dynamics of religion and the market have historically shaped market making activities such as consumption (see Jafari and Süerdem, 2012, for a summary of this literature). The more influential stream of such studies have referred to the classical theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim to explain how in the presence of capitalism and religion, people define the boundaries of the sacred and the profane in their everyday life situations (see Haddorff, 2000, for a detailed discussion). This diverse body of knowledge has provided marketing theory and practice with valuable insights on how to: conceptualise religiosity and its explicit and implicit symbolic systems, consider religiosity as a principal market segmentation criterion, and incorporate religious meanings into market offerings such as brands. Yet, within this extant literature, religiosity has been largely dealt with as a politically neutral phenomenon. Johan Fischer ' s Proper Islamic Consumption addresses this crucial gap in the literature as he demonstrates how consumers ' religiosity is politically shaped in the interfaces between religion, nation, state, and the market.
The book ' s main objective is to bring out the complexities associated with what constitutes religiosity in Malaysia. Through his anthropological lens, Fischer explores the middle-class Muslim Malays ' lifestyle choices in the suburban areas of Kuala Lumpur. He explains how, in pursuit of political, economic, and socio-cultural goals, the Malaysian state has naturalised/nationalised Islam in the post-colonial Malaysia. In doing so, the state uses the “halalisation” discourse as an effective tool to:
homogenise the nation as a modern Muslim population in the post-colonial era;
hegemonise Muslim Malays over other ethnic minorities (the Chinese and Indians);
overcome issues of ethnic conflicts in the country; and
strengthen the country ' s economic foundation by promoting Malaysia as a Halal hub in global markets.
The book consists of eight chapters preceded by a short preface and glossary of frequently used terms. Chapter 1 serves the book as an introduction. With a focus on the urban development of Kuala Lumpur, it explicates the modern history of Malaysia since the nineteenth century. It demonstrates how the Malaysia state has used market development and consumerism as effective means of enhancing its citizens ' education, living standards, skills and business entrepreneurial spirit. As such, Islam has been leveraged to erase the colonial history of Malaysia and project the country as a sophisticated self-sufficient nation. Chapter 2 sheds light on the methodology and familiarises the reader with the research informants. Whilst the quantitative phase of the study (with 241 households) provides only demographic information, the qualitative part (interviews with 14 key informants) produces a rich repository of data. An interesting point in this section is the author ' s critique of Pierre Bourdieu and Karl Marx ' s analysis of social class in the absence of religiosity and ethnicity. In chapter 3, Fischer attempts to explain how the market-driven consumption becomes a site of conflict between two sets of ideologies: “purism” and “pragmatism”. Whilst the former depicts an inflexible approach to Islam and is concerned with accurately following Islam, the latter has a more flexible approach to the religion. This section clearly demonstrates how in the midst of rich marketplace resources, consumers are concerned with keeping religiously accepted balance and avoiding excess. Chapter 4 is largely devoted to how families are concerned with the upbringing of their children as would-become proper Muslims. Fischer ' s insufficient theoretical engagement with socialisation is a drawback of this section. Chapter 5 demonstrates how exposure to materialism brings along with it a series of moral dilemmas for the informants. Issues of family disintegration and mixing the boundaries between Halal and Haram are examples of such concerns. Although the author nicely explains these dilemmas in his research context, he does not acknowledge that moral dilemmas, albeit of diverse forms, are happening in all societies around the world. Chapter 6 basically demonstrates that religiosity is not unanimous as people interpret what is “excess” in a variety of ways. This is in opposition to the state ' s ideal standardisation of religion. Building upon the same discussion, chapter 7 emphasises how consumers re-ritualise the religion in their everyday consumption practices and how difference in ritualisation of Islam challenges issues of state power and ideology. As conclusion, chapter 8 summarises the key findings of the study and highlights the Malaysian state ' s efforts in prescribing a form of Islam which is different from that of the Muslim countries in the Middle East.
Despite these high qualities, Fischer ' s over-emphasis on the binary oppositions of “purism/pragmatism”, “right/wrong”, and “centre/periphery” limits his analytical power as he does not see the broader image. His depiction of the “purists” based on asceticism particularly prevents him from seeing the aesthetics of that lifestyle. This is obvious right from the start of his book where, from his balcony, he sees his fieldwork site as two separate worlds. Moreover, his over-symbolisation of consumers ' practices has led to the unnecessary over-theorisation of consumption. These might be related to the author ' s position as an outsider who is not, understandably, fully familiar with Islam as culture.
Overall, the book is a valuable source of knowledge for understanding what constitutes religion and religiosity. Within marketing and consumer behaviour research, doctoral students, whose research is related to issues of religiosity, ethnicity, and consumer ethnocentrism, can particularly and immensely benefit from the book.
References
Haddorff, D.W. (2000), “Religion and the market: opposition, absorption, or ambiguity?”, Review of Social Economy , Vol. 58 No. 4, pp. 483-504.
Jafari, A. and Süerdem, A. (2012), “An analysis of material consumption culture in the Muslim world”, Marketing Theory , Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 59-77.