The 2024 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Sociological Association's Forum on the Sociology of Religion was held in Harbin, with the theme "Mindset Order and Social Construction in the New Era."
From July 6 to July 7, the forum took place at Harbin Engineering University, divided into four academic units: Meta-Problems and Theoretical Reflections, Mindset and Order, New Forms of Beliefs, Belief and Governance, with a fifth unit specifically for young scholars, according to the official WeChat account "Sociology of Religion."
Each unit featured several scholars delivering keynote speeches. Researcher Li Huawei from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences analyzed the main debates on religious globalization, from the "Clash of Civilizations" to the rise of "Global Civil Religion." Doctoral student Zhao Deze from Sun Yat-sen University explored the classic proposition of religious belief and social trust in Chinese society based on the study of spirit worship. Researcher Lin Yusheng from the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences examined new trends in religious belief in China using data from CGSS2018 and CGSS2021. Ma Zhaozhen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai YMCA, discussed the relationship between the popularization of religion and the rule of law and the construction of a social order, focusing on the legal education initiatives of the Shanghai YMCA.
The fifth unit of the forum was dedicated to young scholars, featuring notable presentations by master's and doctoral students. For instance, doctoral student Chen Jinyu from Yanbian University analyzed the relationship between illness and conversion based on the experiences of rural Christian hysteria patients. Master's student Fu Chuanxiang from Sichuan University investigated the development trend from closed social networks based on differential modes of association and relational trust to structural hole-type social networks, using a migrant worker church as a case study.
Finally, Huang Haibo, director of the Center for Contemporary Religious Research at the Institute of Contemporary Religious Studies in the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, summarized eight key research topics discussed at the forum. Topics included the formation of a discourse system centered on social mentality, the focus on rural social governance as a key area of study in the sociology of religion, the growing attention to urban faith communities, contemporary religious trends, religious belief in ethnic areas, religion and quality of life, religion and national governance, and fundamental theories of religious studies.
The forum was organized by the Chinese Sociological Association's Committee for the Sociology of Religion and the School of Social Development at East China University of Political Science and Law, under the preparation by the Center for Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies at Shandong University, the Department of Sociology at Peking University, the School of Sociology at Guizhou Minzu University, the School of Sociology at Yunnan Minzu University, and the editorial department of the Journal of Sociology of Religion. More than 30 experts, scholars, and graduate students from diverse universities and research institutions attended the forum.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
