Confessionalization in Society and the Ethical Neutrality of Companies

Drawing on classical sociology of religion as inherited from Ernst Troeltsch and Max Weber, this project develops the idea of ethical neutrality as a protection
mechanism for an increasingly disrupted and disintegrated public sphere. The
project argues that in the last two decades, the public sphere has come under
pressure from a process of what Troeltsch called ‘confessionalization’, which
expresses itself in the formation of sectarian movements that hold up ever rising
standards of ethical behaviour not just to their own members but society per se.
The outcome is a heightened sensitivity about behaviours deemed inappropriate
(e.g. meat-eating, unhealthy lifestyles, but also particular political views) and an
increasing pressure to conform to standards of righteousness and virtuosity. The
project looks in particular at the role that businesses play in furthering these
trends, but also at their potential role to ethically neutralize the public sphere
again.