Gift and market in the Chinese religious economy

Abstract

Religious market theory has figured prominently in recent scholarly debates in the social scientific study of religion in China. This article argues that the existence of "religious markets" should not be assumed as axiomatic but should be investigated as concrete social processes, distinguishing between market and non-market relations. Based on field research among popular religious and spiritual groups in China and drawing on the literature of economic anthropology, I propose an alternative model of a "religious gift economy" constituted by gifting exchanges between humans and between gods and humans. Five ethnographic cases from China illustrate the operation and coexistence of gift and market exchanges. In contemporary China, there is a tendency towards an increasing marketization of religion, with a simultaneous growth of religious movements explicitly offering nonmarket forms of sociality. Rather than subsuming all exchanges under the blanket concept of the market, studies of religion must be attentive to the distinct logics of different models of exchange.

Religious revival in rural China and the fate of ‘religion’ in China

“…If we describe the Chinese society, which is dominated by inclusive and syncretic religions (also called ‘non-institutional’ religions 1 ), then we can hardly explain the non-competitive relations among these religions in the grassroots society. Since the Song dynasty (960–1127), there has been a religious market in China to some extent (Szonyi, 2009); however, as Palmer (2011) maintained, the study of religions in contemporary China should restrict ‘market’ to the situations where there are real markets, rather than overusing the market metaphor.…”

“…4 ‘Salvationist religions’ was a term proposed by Goossaert and Palmer (2011) and is used to describe the various religious activities in China that take salvation as their destination. Duara (2003) once applied the term ‘redemptive societies’ to describe such a phenomenon.…”

The ethics of religious giving in Asia: introduction

“…4 The salience of diverse factors involved in the ethics of religious giving are particularly amplified in many contemporary Asian contexts, where complex inter-and intra-religious dynamics, agendas of modernizing reform, state projects of nation-building, economic development programs, and diverse forms of activist mobilization cut across multiple intersecting vectors. Through his studies of popular communal cults, qigong networks, Daoist cultivators, Confucian volunteers, and Buddhist philanthropists in contemporary China, David Palmer has developed a broader vision of the 'religious gift economy', comprised not only of gifting exchanges between humans, but also of those between gods and humans (Palmer 2011). The plurality of values in play across different forms of gifting in these cases reinforces the point highlighted above in relation to s _ adaqa and zakāt about diverse motivations for-and ethical evaluations of-religious gifts.…”

Gift-giving, Estilos de Amor e Sacrifício: uma Análise Entre Parceiros Românticos

“…O ato de presentear é um fenômeno existente em todas as sociedades, sendo um ritual universal, com regras específicas variando entre culturas, que sinaliza o envolvimento e a conexão entre indivíduos (Cheal, 1987;Joy, 2001;Palmer, 2011;Saad & Gill, 2003). As primeiras contribuições sobre o gift-giving foram apresentadas na Antropologia, tendo no trabalho de Mauss (2002Mauss ( /1954) o seu principal expoente.…”

“…Ainda que voluntário, o ato de presentear pode envolver algum senso de obrigação mediante certas regras, eventos e condutas morais, sociais ou religiosas, tais como aniversários, natal e dia das mães (Fischer & Arnold, 1990;Marcoux, 2009). De modo complementar, ainda que presentear possa expressar generosidade, o comportamento associado a ele pode ser pautado em um interesse de algum retorno com o gift-giving, derivando uma obrigação por parte destinatário em retribuir (Berking, 1999;Mauss, 2002;Palmer, 2011). Assim, coloca-se os indivíduos em um ciclo contínuo de obrigações pautadas em dar, receber e devolver presentes que sustentem a reciprocidade entre doador e receptor (Moufahim, 2013;Sherry, 1983).…”