Chinese civilization may have scaled up through secular alternatives to religion

Evidence

Although there is room for debate about the extent and importance of supernatural monitoring in ancient China, it appears that there is less doubt about the fact that it played some role in the formation of Chinese civilization. The idea in this book that groups with belief in powerful supernatural monitors scaled up and eclipsed other groups does not say that supernatural monitoring is the only mechanism that can push groups to expand. Perhaps the Chinese managed to create secular alternatives to religion earlier and more successfully than Western civilization. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 438

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: did Chinese secular institutions (legalism, bureaucratic state) functionally substitute for moralizing-god surveillance in achieving large-scale cooperation?

Related

• Secular substitutes can replace Big Gods without undermining the pattern (similarity 0.86)
• Early Chinese civilization may have relied on supernatural monitoring despite the stereotype (similarity 0.83)
• Religious belief withers when governments provide the cooperation religion once supplied. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Religious belief withers when governments provide the cooperation religion once supplied. #corroborates (0.90) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 564
• Secular welfare states displaced religion by replicating its cooperative functions #corroborates (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 54
• Secular institutions achieved large-scale cooperation by usurping religion’s community-building role #corroborates (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 47