Click here (TimesofIndia) to read about a new study correlating supernatural beliefs with age... What kind of possible explanations for such beliefs does the study discuss? Do you find them persuasive? Are they potentially cross-cultural, or culturally specific?
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
This article is very interesting and I found it very telling that the older people almost always placed a witchcraft belief on the illness. Whereas the young people only cited witchcraft about 50% of the time. This shows the influence of modern technology and the information age having a great effect on the belief systems of the tribal areas.
I think the older generation studied may find the explanation of witchcraft to be easier to comprehend and apply, especially in cases of "why did X contract AIDS but not y" - like the article mentions. To me, this indicates a stronger presence of traditional beliefs among the older generation. Perhaps fewer young people point to witchcraft as an explanation because science has become very advanced and has been very prevalent throughout almost their whole life, whereas such advanced science was not introduced to the older generation until later in their lives.
I think the study results could vary in different cultures, depending on their location. A group very removed from modern society might have stronger traditional beliefs in supernatural phenomenons because they have not been exposed to science. On the other hand, a group that is constantly influenced by modern science might rely more on science.
I feel that the influence of technology and globalization are clearly manifest in this publication. The fact that the younger generations cite witchcraft much less frequently show a deviation for traditional cultural understandings. Meanwhile the older generation's use of witchcraft as explanation for AIDS in the sample shows a more strict adherence to traditional systems. These explanations are cross-cultural, I believe, if one pays attention to context. What might be deemed witchcraft in Africa could be called by any number of cross-culturally synonymous terms.
A key question (which this article remains vague about, unfortunately) is whether/why supernatural beliefs seem to GROW with age. If that really happens, then it's not merely about a generation-gap, but something within each generation, across time. What triggers religiosity in old(er) age? Mortality? Wisdom? something else??
This is understandable. The older we get the more that we see that we do not understand the world. The first true wisdom that a person can attain is the realization that they know nothing. From there it is easy to see why the supernatural plays such an important place in elders' lives.
5 comments:
This article is very interesting and I found it very telling that the older people almost always placed a witchcraft belief on the illness. Whereas the young people only cited witchcraft about 50% of the time. This shows the influence of modern technology and the information age having a great effect on the belief systems of the tribal areas.
Bob Miller
I think the older generation studied may find the explanation of witchcraft to be easier to comprehend and apply, especially in cases of "why did X contract AIDS but not y" - like the article mentions. To me, this indicates a stronger presence of traditional beliefs among the older generation.
Perhaps fewer young people point to witchcraft as an explanation because science has become very advanced and has been very prevalent throughout almost their whole life, whereas such advanced science was not introduced to the older generation until later in their lives.
I think the study results could vary in different cultures, depending on their location. A group very removed from modern society might have stronger traditional beliefs in supernatural phenomenons because they have not been exposed to science. On the other hand, a group that is constantly influenced by modern science might rely more on science.
Lauren Cavanagh
I feel that the influence of technology and globalization are clearly manifest in this publication. The fact that the younger generations cite witchcraft much less frequently show a deviation for traditional cultural understandings. Meanwhile the older generation's use of witchcraft as explanation for AIDS in the sample shows a more strict adherence to traditional systems. These explanations are cross-cultural, I believe, if one pays attention to context. What might be deemed witchcraft in Africa could be called by any number of cross-culturally synonymous terms.
Sophia May
A key question (which this article remains vague about, unfortunately) is whether/why supernatural beliefs seem to GROW with age. If that really happens, then it's not merely about a generation-gap, but something within each generation, across time. What triggers religiosity in old(er) age? Mortality? Wisdom? something else??
pdk
This is understandable. The older we get the more that we see that we do not understand the world. The first true wisdom that a person can attain is the realization that they know nothing. From there it is easy to see why the supernatural plays such an important place in elders' lives.
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