Occulture as a predictor of paranormal beliefs in Sweden
This article acknowledges that paranormal beliefs commonly occur in Western populations and are frequently represented in media and popular culture, arguing that a positive association between these occurrences is often assumed rather than demonstrated. Using Christopher Partridge’s (2004, 2006, 201...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 40, Issue: 3, Pages: 455-471 |
| Further subjects: | B
Occulture
B alternative and New Age spirituality B Paranormal B paranormal beliefs |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article acknowledges that paranormal beliefs commonly occur in Western populations and are frequently represented in media and popular culture, arguing that a positive association between these occurrences is often assumed rather than demonstrated. Using Christopher Partridge’s (2004, 2006, 2013a, 2013b) claim that representations of paranormal and alternative spiritual ideas and practices in media and popular culture act as a plausibility structure for Western imaginations, the author derives occulture-as-plausibility as a testable hypothesis. This hypothesis is tested using data from the survey “Paranormal Sweden” (n 1101), distributed to a national random sample of adult Swedes. Positive associations between occultural contact points and paranormal beliefs were viewed as evidence supporting occulture-as-plausibility. Following results from logistic regressions, I demonstrate that occulture-as-plausibility gains support, as it positively covaries with all included paranormal belief statements. The other independent variable affecting the likelihood of paranormal beliefs the most was gender, with women more prone to accept most (but not all) paranormal beliefs. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2025.2570570 |
