Research on religion, culture, media and social theory, with particular strength in Chinese religion and in theories of charisma and cognition.

What we study. This cluster focuses on the cultural and theoretical dimensions of social phenomena. Colleagues treat culture both as a topic of study — popular culture, media, religion — and as a general aspect of social life, in symbols, values, knowledge and practice. Current work covers Daoism and Chinese religion, religious mobilities along the Belt and Road, spirituality and its global circulation, charisma and domination, cognition and creativity, and how crisis is framed and futures projected. The cluster is theoretically minded and pluralistic in scope: colleagues apply and develop theoretical concepts and frameworks drawn from a range of traditions.

Recent work. David Palmer holds four externally funded projects in this area: Chinese Modernity and Soft Power on the Belt and Road (RGC Research Fellowship Scheme), Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road (RGC Collaborative Research Fund), Global Chinese Orders (British Academy Global Convening Programme), and a study of community engagement and ESG risk for Chinese enterprises in the Global South (HKU Seed Fund for Collaborative Research). His books include The Religious Question in Modern China and Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality. Paul Joosse’s work on gender and charismatic power appeared in Theory and Society (2020) and on charismatic mimicry in Sociological Theory (2023). Gordon Brett’s papers on dual-process models of cognition and creativity are in Sociological Theory (2022) and Sociological Science (2023). Ioana Sendroiu writes on how people make sense of crisis. Cheris Chan holds a Seed Fund for Basic Research grant on religious impacts on group cultures and individual habitus.

This cluster’s work anchors the Faculty’s Culture, Equity and Community Development theme, co-led by Professor David Palmer, and underpins the Global Society and Sustainability Lab.