Work Organizations as Secular Religions

Abstract

The authors argue that the secular and the sacred should be viewed not as mutually exclusive but as interpenetrated. As the conventional anchors for spiritual strivings loosen their grip, many work organizations appear increasingly willing to play the role of secular religion. Secular religions offer transcendence through edifying cosmologies that address fundamental questions about identity and meaning, without necessarily invoking a supernatural power. Normative controls are used to instill faith in the often distant ends of the organization and to sacralize the means through which the ends are pursued. Founders may become deities of sorts; key insiders may become clergy; jobs, callings; institutionalized processes, rituals; and failings, sins. However, because a secular religion is only a claim to a system of meaning, it should inspire not only wonder but wariness. The authors conclude that a certain ironic distance from such a religion may be healthy for the individual.