Religious Belief and Collective Action Participation: An Empirical Study Based on CGSS2010 Data

• Published in: Fu dan xue bao. She hui ke xue ban 2017-02, Vol.59 (1), p.171
• Main Author: Cheng-zhi, Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: chi ; eng
• Subjects: Belief & doubt; Beliefs; Chinese; Citizen participation; Collective action; Influence; Polls & surveys; Religion; Religious aspects; Religious beliefs; Social action; Social aspects
• ISSN: 0257-0289

The existing literature on the relationship between religious beliefs and collection action is controversial. Can religious beliefs lead to more active participation of individuals in collective action? If so, what are the mechanisms behind them? Based on a large sample survey data of Chinese General Social Survey 2010 (CGSS2010), this paper quantitatively studies the impact that citizens' religious beliefs exert on their collection action participation. Results show that, citizens' objective religious behavior has a significant positive influence on their collection action participation across urban and rural China, while subjective religious orientation is of no importance. In other words, mere religious beliefs without participation in religious activities don't have a significant impact on the participation of collective action. However, the more frequent participation of religious believers in religious activities, the more active participation of them in collective action. Further analysis confirms that it is the deprivation effect that makes religious beliefs influence collective action participation, but not the mobilization effect, empowerment effect and trust effect. The results show that there is a significant positive effect of religious beliefs on collective action participation. One possible reason is that religious beliefs help to strengthen the deprived perception of believers and thus promote the participation of collective action through deprivation effect. Key words; religious orientation; religious behavior; collective action participation