An interview with veteran Hindutva specialist Christophe Jaffrelot suggests that while there is a “saffronization of the public square” and state-sponsored pressure against religious minorities—especially Muslims but increasingly Christians—under Prime Minister Modi, including “unofficial” support of cow protection vigilantism, Hindutva has become too adaptive and diverse to even fit the usual nationalist narrative. This is especially borne out in the articles on yoga and holistic health, as promoted by the consumer brand Patanjali, and social media, where Neo-Hindutva has gained a hearing among the middle class, taking on more cosmopolitan and less dogmatic forms. For more information on this issue, visit: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ccsa20/current.
Throughout the book, Everton uses social network theory and methods to reexamine prominent research findings. For instance, he finds that—echoing the work of Robert Putnam—social networks are central in connecting congregation members to opportunities to engage in civic life through volunteering, and that the spread of acceptance of women’s ordination within segments of Protestantism was because such an innovation was diffused through network ties between similar denominations. Everton, who teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School and has done previous work on terrorism, returns to extremist groups toward the end of the book and finds that network ties are particularly important in predicting which ones may engage in violent behavior. It is those groups that, along with holding apocalyptic beliefs, limit their ties to fellow members and draw recruits through those strong ties that are most likely to become radicalized. Everton counsels authorities to maintain ties and contact with groups that are in danger of radicalizing. He actually concludes that minimizing media scrutiny and public ridicule of such groups while encouraging religious freedom have been shown to prevent isolation and perceptions of persecution which drive radicalization.
