Beyond Rational and Utilitarian Action: Moral and Emotional Giving Within Chinese Folk Religion

Despite a trend to use rational and utilitarian paradigms to interpret the revival of folk religions, other human motives need to be acknowledged. Humans do behave in their economic and spiritual self-interests. But wider social and structural factors bind people into a moral community. To obtain a broader and more nuanced interpretation of exchange relationships, we apply Marcel Mauss’ paradigm of “The Gift” to the ritual life of a Miao Tzu village (an ethnic minority of Southern China). This interpretation accounts for individual motives, such as for physical cures, healthy well-being, and favorable position in the afterlife. Simultaneously, Miao Tzu ritual life binds the community together with reciprocity to restore moral and emotional relationships. Our broader perspective aligns with David Palmer’s “religious gift economy” that legitimizes exchange relations with the supernatural as appropriate as with gifting to other humans. Maussian theory lays the foundation for understanding religion, ritual, exchange, and reciprocity in a fundamentally inclusive and holistic way in a Miao Tzu village subject to the state development program.