Trajectories of Folk Religion in Deregulated Taiwan

Abstract

Drawing on pooled cross-sectional data collected in Taiwan, this research examines the age, period, and cohort effects on the trajectories of folk religions. We detect a temporal growth in Taiwanese folk religion from the early 1990s to the mid-1990s, followed by a downward trend in the 2000s. A slight decline of individual folk religion is confirmed across the life course among Taiwanese residents. The cohorts that experienced the martial law era in their formative stage are more likely to practice individual folk religion but less likely to get involved in communal folk religion. Finally, communal folk religion within Buddhism is falling, but individual folk religion has become increasingly popular within institutional religions. This research betters our understanding of Chinese folk religion and sheds light on the classic Weberian disenchantment thesis in the context of Chinese society.