Follower Agency and Charismatic Mobilization in Falun Gong
This article reconsiders sociological theory of charisma through Falun Gong, a transnational Chinese new religious movement that was banned in China in 1999. In spite of widely shared agreement that charismatic authority is based on social interactions between a leader and followers, research on cha...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford Univ. Press
2014
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| In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 75, Issue: 3, Pages: 418-441 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | This article reconsiders sociological theory of charisma through Falun Gong, a transnational Chinese new religious movement that was banned in China in 1999. In spite of widely shared agreement that charismatic authority is based on social interactions between a leader and followers, research on charisma and collective action has predominantly focused on the agency of the charismatic leader. The Falun Gong case reveals, by contrast, that followers can create and pursue purposes that are distinct from those of the leader while still sincerely professing to align their actions with official doctrine. Through an empirical examination of the development and transformation of Falun Gong's political activism, the article discusses the theoretical possibility of follower agency and the dynamics of interplay between followers and the charismatic leader. Data for the study are drawn from Falun Gong web sites and interviews with diaspora practitioners. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/socrel/sru021 |