Bourdieu, Weber und Rational Choice: Versuch einer Weiterentwicklung des religiösen Feldmodells am Beispiel Chinas

Abstract

The present article aims at a novel understanding of the “religious field” model as it has been developed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in his reading of Max Weber’s sociology of religion. Taking the religious landscape of China as a point of departure, I will argue that this model is only of limited value to analyze religious diversity. First, Bourdieu’s model ignores the importance of the state in the formation and regulation of the religious field. Second, his typology of four primary field positions (priest, magician, prophet, and “laity”) is too simplistic to adequately address the variety of religious interactions in China, and other religiously pluralistic societies as well. By taking into account these considerations and by incorporating a number of hypotheses from the “rational choice theorists” Rodney Stark, William Sims Bainbridge, Roger Finke, and Yang Fenggang, I will propose a new understanding of the religious field model.

Biographical Note

Dr. Nikolas Broy (SFB 1199 & Institute for the Study of Religions, Leipzig University, Germany)
Nikolas Broy has been trained in religious studies and Chinese studies at Leipzig University, where he also gained a PhD in religious studies. By combining these two fields of study, his research addresses popular religious sects in modern Chinese societies, Buddhism and violence in East Asia, as well as method and theory of religious studies. He has also studied Japanese at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto. He held teaching and research positions in Leipzig, at the East Asia Department of the University of Göttingen, and worked at two universities in Hefei (PR China).