McMindfulness

How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality

Paperback, 304 pages

Published July 9, 2019 by Repeater.

ISBN:
978-1-912248-31-5
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Mindfulness is now all the rage.

From celebrity endorsements to monks, neuroscientists and meditation coaches rubbing shoulders with CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it is clear that mindfulness has gone mainstream. Some have even called it a revolution. But what if, instead of changing the world, mindfulness has become a banal form of capitalist spirituality that mindlessly avoids social and political transformation, reinforcing the neoliberal status quo?

In McMindfulness, Ronald Purser debunks the so-called “mindfulness revolution,” exposing how corporations, schools, governments and the military have coopted it as technique for social control and self-pacification.

A lively and razor-sharp critique, Purser busts the myths its salesmen rely on, challenging the narrative that stress is self-imposed and mindfulness is the cure-all. If we are to harness the truly revolutionary potential of mindfulness, we have to cast off its neoliberal shackles, liberating mindfulness for a collective awakening.

1 edition

Good thesis but could have been much shorter

The nexus of anti-capitalism/mindfulness/Buddhism is a great place to write from. But this was highly repetitive. Apparently he coined "McMindfulness" in an article - I don't know which one, otherwise I would recommend people read that one instead. Or listen to a podcast with the author about it. Or skim, as I should have started doing.

That said, it's a strong case against the limitations (and even pernicious effects) of corporate mindfulness programs. The same arguments would apply to corporate DEI initiatives that are divorced from broader political struggles for liberation.