ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the religious and cultural structure in the societies. During the Tang Dynasty, the major characteristics of the Chinese religious system, especially in relation to the social system, were fully established. In most of the societies studied, one religious organization or several competing organizations encompassed all the society's members. The chapter examines several aspects of religious orientations and values that are important. In many of the religious and value systems of the societies investigated here-particularly in the more uni-versalistic ones-there was a tendency, on the contrary, to develop some autonomous ideological orientations and systems, which committed their members to evaluate social reality and then propel it in the "proper" direction. The chapter discusses the patterns of communication among the lower strata, suggests that among them also there existed some educational and cultural organizations whose function was to propagate such wider values and orientations.
