The Price of Faith: Political Determinants of the Commercialization of Buddhist Temples in China

• In Event: 118 - Section on Economic Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. The Chinese State and Social Dynamics of Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The market’s expansion into traditional non-market spheres often provokes fierce opposition. However, while past research has studied the way in which cultural barriers serve as a bar to market expansion, this paper considers the role of political forces in shaping the boundaries of markets. The state plays an important role in defining what kinds of goods can be traded and what kinds of organizations can be legitimate players in markets. But the state does not do so randomly; it uses markets in state-building. Studying the commercialization of Buddhist temples in modern China, we found that economic performance is an important means for a state, especially one with an authoritarian regime, to obtain political legitimacy. The pursuit of utilitarian legitimacy has led the Chinese government to include economic performance in the criteria of its political promotion system, turning local government officials into “public entrepreneurs” and creating a tournament-like competition among them. Those local government officials who face stronger pressure to develop the economy press temples to commercialize. In addition, Buddhist temples are more likely to abandon commercial practices when they are located in areas where the local government officials face less pressure to develop the economy.

Authors

• Lori Qingyuan Yue, USC-Marshall School of Business

• Jue Wang, USC

• Botao Yang, USC Marshall School of Business