The psychology of peasant religious conversion for the purpose of disease control: The role of belief in understanding Chinese rural religious practices

Abstract

This paper focuses on the religious psychology of peasants who undergo religious conversion in order to cure an illness or disease. Field research was conducted in Wang village in Northern Jiangsu, examining the psychology of newly converted peasants. In academic circles psychology of peasants is usually critiqued according to utility and rationality. In this paper, belief is a starting point for understanding the psychology of peasants. The natural mentality and family ethics of the peasants lead them to place high expectations on religion as a tool for curing disease and facing life crises and dilemmas. The three levels of religious practice include: religious construction of ‘belief’; emotional embedding of ‘belief’; and developing ‘faith’. These requirements lead to the transformation of the individual’s psychological status from secular to religious. Based on the interaction between the individual and religion which is affected by the initial disease and its seriousness, peasants’ religious psychology is divided into three types: collapse of belief; transition of belief; and upgrading of belief. The rituals and different attitudes towards belief constitute the mechanism of developing religious psychology and also shape peasants’ attitudes towards faith. In addition, this paper explores the role of belief in understanding individual religious psychology, religious conversion, and religious revival in Chinese rural religious practices.