Trust in God: The COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on Religiosity in China
Emerging research shows the COVID-19 pandemic has made substantial changes to the religious climate of several nations. Surprisingly, China, the outbreak center of the pandemic, has been scarcely researched. Our study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has evoked new religious disaster responses...
Authors: | ; ; |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2023
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In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2023, Volume: 62, Issue: 3, Pages: 523-548 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
China
/ Religiosity
/ COVID-19 (Disease)
/ Pandemic
/ Coping
/ Risk
/ Perception
/ History 2019-2020
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RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AE Psychology of religion AF Geography of religion AG Religious life; material religion KBM Asia TK Recent history ZD Psychology |
Further subjects: | B
Covid-19
B Religion B Risk perception B Religiosity |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Emerging research shows the COVID-19 pandemic has made substantial changes to the religious climate of several nations. Surprisingly, China, the outbreak center of the pandemic, has been scarcely researched. Our study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has evoked new religious disaster responses and provided psychological coping mechanisms during the pandemic. We also explore how the pandemic explains surprising rates of religiosity in China. Scholars have long proposed that religious resurgence in China has been a result of individuals seeking stability in turbulent times. We bridge parallel Literatures in these areas and treat the pandemic as a natural experiment for evaluating religious behavior over time as conditioned by heightened risk perception. Utilizing a difference-in-differences estimation strategy with panel data, our study reveals that the pandemic has led to a significant increase in religiosity in China, particularly in religious areas most affected by the pandemic. We propose that even in a highly regulative religious environment, with most of its population being religiously unaffiliated, religion is a significant resource for coping in China. We take an innovative approach to demonstrate this by utilizing online search data. Our research speaks to the sociology of religion, the social psychology of risk perception, and makes application to emerging research on the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. |
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ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12839 |