Abstract
Modernity and folk religion constitute a paradox. On the one hand, modernity enhances rationality, which should inevitably inhibit beliefs toward religion, especially folk religion. On the other hand, various types of religious behaviors seem to increase, rather than decrease in face of modernization. In this paper, we employ Foucault's concept of ”governmentality” to solve the paradox between modernity and folk religion. Simply put, since 1970s when modernity unfolded in Taiwan, various types of religious organizations, including folk temples had started to appropriate methods of modern enterprise to manage their business. It is argued that this new type of religious governance actively created demands for religion, and resulted in the increase of religious behaviors as observed. We use data about changes in ritual practice from a local temple to detail the process and the mechanism of religious governance. In analyzing the process of religious governance, and inspired by Durkheim's ideas of magic, we propose a concept called ”magical community” to designate the social relations not only under religious governance in particular, but also under modern governance as a whole. In other words, ”magical community” is the prototype of every kind of social relations in modern society. It is here that we see the very meaning of govermentality in our modern age. In the end, we explore the meaning of ”magical community”, and reflect on the ethical problems of modernity.