RT Article
T1 Chinese Exceptionalism? Folk Religions and Subjective Well-being
JF Review of religious research
VO 66
IS 3
SP 221
OP 243
A1 Luo, Lang
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1920727140
AB Folk religions are reviving in contemporary China. They are distinctive from institutionalized religions and share many qualities with the emerging religious phenomena in the West. Despite their significance, however, the lack of concise frameworks and causal analysis methods has hindered a deeper understanding of these religions. By integrating psychological and sociocultural perspectives, this study concentrates on subjective well-being and tailors a micro model applicable to analyzing Chinese folk religions, along with a novel instrumental variable for causal identification. Empirical evidence suggests that folk religions have negative effects on subjective well-being, resulting in a 17.3 percent decrease in subjective well-being compared to the sample mean. This is primarily due to believers seeing folk religions as mere means for achieving earthly targets, therefore suffering from strengthened negative senses and motivated radical behaviors. Nevertheless, investing in folk religions to a high degree might transform believers’ attitudes from seeing folk religions as means to seeing them as ends, thereby alleviating the negativity. This alleviation is mainly derived from positive senses, self-regulation, and inclusive attitudes towards society. Hence, taking religions more seriously and not utilitarianly, or fulfilling unmet targets more effectively, are two paths to eliminate the negative effects.
K1 Chinese folk religions
K1 economic model
K1 economics of religion
K1 instrumental variable
K1 Subjective well-being
DO 10.1177/0034673X241246540