ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the relationship between economic growth and religious change from a supply-side perspective. It argues that under affluent conditions, individuals cease attending religious services not because they become unreligious, but rather because economic growth leads to an increase in the purchasing power of households. The central aim of the economy has changed from developing the units, technologies, and organizational principles of production to developing the means that allow companies to increase consumer demand. Moreover, there are social infrastructures of consumption clubs, theme parks, hotel resorts, restaurants, shopping districts, and fitness gyms that operate as explicit opportunity structures for individuals to meet and interact. The process of rationalization and the disenchantment of the world which started in the religious sphere was continued and finalized with the establishment of capitalism. Moreover, the production and reproduction of social practices and collective representations are not only secondary by-products of religion.
