Religion and Charity

The Social Life of Goodness in Chinese Societies

Bibliographic Data

ID19909342
AuthorsR P Weller (0000-0003-2897-3819), C J Huang (0000-0001-6480-3249, National Tsing Hua University), Keping Wu (0000-0002-1440-8766, Sun Yat-sen University), Lizhu Fan (Fudan University)
Year2017
Publication date2017-10-31
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueReligion and Charity (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/9781108290821
OpenAlexW4243582008
Open LibraryOL34556720M
ISBN9781108290821
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited76

Free markets alone do not work effectively to solve certain kinds of human problems, such as education, old age care, or disaster relief. Nor have markets ever been the sole solution to the psychological challenges of death, suffering, or injustice. Instead, we find a major role for the non-market institutions of society - the family, the state, and social institutions. The first in-depth anthropological study of charities in contemporary Chinese societies, this book focuses on the unique ways that religious groups have helped to solve the problems of social well-being. Using comparative case studies in China, Taiwan and Malaysia during the 1980s and onwards, it identifies new forms of religious philanthropy as well as new ideas of social 'good', including different forms of political merit-making, new forms of civic selfhood, and the rise of innovative social forms, including increased leadership by women. The book finally argues that the spread of these ideas is an incomplete process, with many alternative notions of goodness continuing to be influential

China · Environmental ethics · Injustice · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social injustice · Social life · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · Asian Studies and History · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Charities · Charity · Religion and sociology · Religious aspects

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