The Contemporary Religious Marketplace in China and the Role of Rational Choice Theory

Abstract

In spite of the state‐sanctioned restrictions on religion following the Cultural Revolution and the relaxed, albeit still limiting, policy in 1979, religion has continued to persist in Chinese culture through inventive practices. Religious adherents partake in a unique religious marketplace, in which choice is curtailed by political bans. However, religiosity has maneuvered through such sanctions, producing an unusual market and suggesting an inherent sociological drive towards forming religious community. Rational choice theory suggests a theory of religious economy in which a supply and demand model determines the success or failure of particular religious traditions. Through access to a religious marketplace in a religiously pluralistic society, religious ‘consumers’ may select religions which fulfill their expectations and spiritual needs. While the model of the religious marketplace is credible in regards to the North American religious situation, rational choice theory in contemporary China requires a more complex model. Due to historical restrictions on Chinese religious practice, a religious market was rendered temporarily invisible, thus creating innovative religious choices and options for Chinese communities. This has resulted in a ‘tripartite religious market’, as described in the work of Fenggang Yang. Through Yang’s work, we can understand China as maintaining a religious marketplace which looks dissimilar to that of North America. By viewing the Chinese market through the lens of rational choice theory, it is clear that religion and religious choice has thrived in China in a new sociological mechanism.