The stratification of religious communities in China had been shifting towards the urban, the young, and the elite populations, a professor concluded.
In his lecture on the status quo and relationship of religions, Professor Feng Li from the School of Social Development of the East China University of Political Science and Law delivered a lecture titled "The ‘Five-More’ or ‘Three-towards’? Changed and Unchanged Elements of Believer Stratification in Contemporary China: Data Analysis Based on CGSS2010-2017".
The 2021 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association was hosted at Southwest University in Chongqing, from 16 to 18 July, 2021. Themed "Indigenization and Discourse Construction in the Study of the Sociology of Religion in the New Era", the Sociology of Religion Session of the conference was held on Jul 17, mainly composed of featured presentations, comments, and free discussions.
A total of 21 scholars were invited to the one-day Sociology of Religion Session to give speeches on four topics: sociology of religious theories, the status quo of and relationships between religions, governance of religion, and religion and real-life world.
"The 'five-more' refers to the demographic features of religious believers, while ‘three-towards’ refers to a new trend in recent years.” Professor Li explained, “Among believers of various religions in China, many are from the elderly, female, illiterate (low social class), rural and physically weak populations, that is ‘five-more’. And the ‘three-towards’ means the trend towards urban, younger, and elite populations. These two phenomena coexist in today’s Chinese society.”
Li shared, “The ‘five-more’ can be explained by different theories, such as risk preference. Yet changes in Chinese society have led to changes of social class and demographic features.”
He then elaborated his arguments concerning “three-towards”, “In 2011, China’s urban population outnumbered that of rural areas. The latest census shows that the urban population has reached 64%, well ahead of the rural population. Does this demographic structural change lead to changes in the structure of believers? Secondly, as the middle class expands and the number of white-collar workers in the city increases, does the ratio of middle-class urban believers grow accordingly? Thirdly, in terms of generational replacement, as people born in the 1980s grow into the main force of society, does this raise the percentage of young adherents among the total number of believers?”
Professor Li further explained the methods and results of the data analysis, “Considering the factor of urbanization, we introduced a balance of urban and rural weightings to achieve precise results. For the tests of the 'five more, we found no difference between genders in folk religion followers, while for other beliefs, female religious people generally outnumber male believers. There is indeed a gap between rural and urban populations as well, with a larger number of religious believers in cities. However, it varies among different religions in terms of indicators like age, educational level, socioeconomic status, and family income, and we could not make a universal conclusion.”
- Translated by Grace Song
一位教授说，目前中国信仰分层变得有所城市化、年轻化、精英化。
2021年7月16-18日，中国社会学会主办2021年学术年会在重庆西南大学举行，其中宗教社会学的分论坛于7月17日举行，主题是“新时代宗教社会学研究的本土议题与话语建设”，论坛以主题发言、评论和自由讨论为主。
此次宗教社会学的分论坛为期一天，邀请了21位学者，就宗教社会学理论、宗教现状及关系、宗教治理和宗教与生活世界共4个主题进行发言。
在宗教现状及关系主题讲座中，华东政法大学社会发展学院李峰教授分享了题为“‘五多’抑或‘三化’？当前我国信仰分层的变与不变：基于CGSS2010-2017的数据分析”的讲座。
李峰教授在提及讲座主题时，讲道：“‘五多’指的是信徒社会构成，‘三化’是近些年来新的趋势。”‘五多’一般是指：老人多、女性多、文盲多（下层者多）、农村多、病人多；“三化”现象指的是：城市化、年轻化、精英化。这两种现象在我们今天的时代并存。
“‘五多’基于各种不同的理论，”李峰教授分享说：“比如风险偏好等理论。随着中国社会的变迁，导致社会阶层和人口的变化。”
李峰教授继续分享自己的研究思路，说：“2011年，城镇化的比率超过农村。最新人口普查显示，城镇人口达到了64%远超过农村。人口结构的变化是不是导致信徒结构也出现变化？第二个，中间阶层壮大，中产阶级越来越多，城市的白领越来越多。城市中产阶级的信仰情况是不是导致这一部分的信徒显著性的占比增高？第三个是世代更替，随着80后成长成为社会的中间力量。因为世代更替，是不是导致青年人信教占有显著比率？”
在使用数据库时，李峰教授说：“考虑到城市化的因素，为了实现严谨性，我们在统计的时候加上了城乡的权重平衡。对于‘五多’的检验，我们发现在民间信仰男女比例没有差异，但是在其他信仰中的确存在性别的差异，女性普遍比男性信徒多。城乡当中的确存在差异性，中国现在城市中的信徒超过农村。而在年龄、受教育程度、社会经济地位、家庭收入等方面，各个不同的宗教信仰情况有所差异性，不是所有的宗教都是如此。”
宗教社会学者讲座分享：“五多”抑或“三化”？当前我国信仰分层的变与不变
The stratification of religious communities in China had been shifting towards the urban, the young, and the elite populations, a professor concluded.
In his lecture on the status quo and relationship of religions, Professor Feng Li from the School of Social Development of the East China University of Political Science and Law delivered a lecture titled "The ‘Five-More’ or ‘Three-towards’? Changed and Unchanged Elements of Believer Stratification in Contemporary China: Data Analysis Based on CGSS2010-2017".
The 2021 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association was hosted at Southwest University in Chongqing, from 16 to 18 July, 2021. Themed "Indigenization and Discourse Construction in the Study of the Sociology of Religion in the New Era", the Sociology of Religion Session of the conference was held on Jul 17, mainly composed of featured presentations, comments, and free discussions.
A total of 21 scholars were invited to the one-day Sociology of Religion Session to give speeches on four topics: sociology of religious theories, the status quo of and relationships between religions, governance of religion, and religion and real-life world.
"The 'five-more' refers to the demographic features of religious believers, while ‘three-towards’ refers to a new trend in recent years.” Professor Li explained, “Among believers of various religions in China, many are from the elderly, female, illiterate (low social class), rural and physically weak populations, that is ‘five-more’. And the ‘three-towards’ means the trend towards urban, younger, and elite populations. These two phenomena coexist in today’s Chinese society.”
Li shared, “The ‘five-more’ can be explained by different theories, such as risk preference. Yet changes in Chinese society have led to changes of social class and demographic features.”
He then elaborated his arguments concerning “three-towards”, “In 2011, China’s urban population outnumbered that of rural areas. The latest census shows that the urban population has reached 64%, well ahead of the rural population. Does this demographic structural change lead to changes in the structure of believers? Secondly, as the middle class expands and the number of white-collar workers in the city increases, does the ratio of middle-class urban believers grow accordingly? Thirdly, in terms of generational replacement, as people born in the 1980s grow into the main force of society, does this raise the percentage of young adherents among the total number of believers?”
Professor Li further explained the methods and results of the data analysis, “Considering the factor of urbanization, we introduced a balance of urban and rural weightings to achieve precise results. For the tests of the 'five more, we found no difference between genders in folk religion followers, while for other beliefs, female religious people generally outnumber male believers. There is indeed a gap between rural and urban populations as well, with a larger number of religious believers in cities. However, it varies among different religions in terms of indicators like age, educational level, socioeconomic status, and family income, and we could not make a universal conclusion.”
- Translated by Grace Song
More Urban, Young, Elite? Scholar Shares Demographic Features of Chinese Religious Populations
