IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v16y2011i3p94-105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Keeping It Real!: Constructing and Maintaining Traditional Authenticity in a Tibetan Buddhist Organisation in Scotland

Author

Listed:
  • John S. McKenzie

Abstract

Many studies on the westward transplantation of Buddhism focus on the retention of traditional authenticity. The sociological perspective provided here moves the emphasis to the social construction of such claims. The social construction of traditional authenticity will be explored through a study of the Tibetan Buddhist organisation, Rokpa Scotland (RS) and it will be demonstrated that RS constructs claims to traditional authenticity by adapting to the local culture whilst demonstrating links with an ancient practice. These claims are then reified by limiting adaptations and retaining core features associated with Buddhism. None the less adapting to the West can be seen as detraditionalization and can present a threat to claims to traditional authenticity. However, RS can claim to control the detraditionalization process by responding to the effects of reflexive modernization and controlling the flow of information. In controlling detraditionalization RS provides the plausibility structures to maintain claims to traditional authenticity.

Suggested Citation

  • John S. McKenzie, 2011. "Keeping It Real!: Constructing and Maintaining Traditional Authenticity in a Tibetan Buddhist Organisation in Scotland," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(3), pages 94-105, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:16:y:2011:i:3:p:94-105
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.2446
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.2446
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.2446?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John S. McKenzie, 2009. "‘You Don't Know How Lucky you are to be Here!’: Reflections on Covert Practices in an Overt Participant Observation Study," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 14(2), pages 60-69, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Natalie Jolly, 2014. "In this World but Not of It: Midwives, Amish, and the Politics of Power," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(2), pages 1-10, May.
    2. Andrew Upton, 2011. "In Testing Times: Conducting an Ethnographic Study of UK Animal Rights Protesters," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 13-21, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:16:y:2011:i:3:p:94-105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.