Religious Individualization in China: A Two-Modal Approach
24 Pages Posted: 25 May 2017
Date Written: May 24, 2017
Abstract
In the grand narrative of Western modernization, individualization plays a central role. This topic has also attracted interest in sociological studies of contemporary Chinese society, where many observers argue that a non-Western type of “authoritarian individualization” is manifest. The paper connects this debate with recent research on religious individualization, both historically and cross-culturally, which questions the “grand narrative.” Religious individualization in China is used as a yardstick against which claims on Chinese separateness can be evaluated. For this, the paper develops a conceptual model of religious individualization that posits the dynamic interaction between the “market exchange mode” and the “gift exchange mode” as driver of individualization. As a result, we can identify the domain of religion as the ground on which autonomous forms of individualization flourish, thus eschewing both the common notions of China as a culturally fixated “collectivist society” and the idea of “authoritarian individualization.”
Keywords: religious individualization; reflexive individualization; Chinese popular religion; market exchange; gift exchange
JEL Classification: Z12
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