Mapping Charisma among Chinese Religious Specialists

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20199358
AutoresVincent Goossaert (Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen12
Número2
Páginas12-28
Fecha de publicación2008-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1092-6690 • E-ISSN: 1541-8480
EditorialProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/nr.2008.12.2.12
OpenAlexW2025029022
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas8

Modern and contemporary Chinese society (from 1800 to the present, for the purposes of this article) contains numerous types of religious specialists: Daoists, Buddhists, spirit-mediums, self-cultivation teachers, and so on. Most of these do not construct their authority on a charismatic basis, because the global division of labor in the Chinese religious economy divides leadership and authority among different persons. This article looks at the idioms (emic categories) the Chinese use to describe religious specialists and the division of religious labor. It suggests that situations of charismatic authority arise when one person can overcome the division of labor and be equally convincing in different idioms, thus able to meet all the expectations of the extraordinary from his/her followers. While potential charisma, evident in mastery of the various idioms, is rather common, situations where a charismatic relationship is in fact activated by both leader and followers are less so

Charisma · Charismatic authority · Division of labour · Emic and etic · History of religions · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Law · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Social Psychology · Workplace Spirituality and Leadership