Towards a Theory of Magical Phenomena and Their (un)Questionability

Recent theoretical work in the sociology of risk and uncertainty has engaged with concepts of enchantment and re-enchantment. This work develops Weberian concerns which initially considered the disenchantment or de-magicalisation of society as a key feature modernisation. Connecting work on magical thinking and cultural dynamics, to dis-/re-enchantment and lifeworld rationalisation, this paper seeks to synthesise and extend our understanding of the magical and its role within different modernities. Drawing initially on work by Habermas on limits to communicative action as a basis of rationalisation, we explore the power of magic as an inhibitor of questioning and an obstacle to mutual understanding, listening and discussion. The paper then moves to consider some of the organisational and power dynamics which drive the emergence of objects, people and phenomena as magical and unquestionable. I will draw upon Mary Douglas’s work on organisational conflict and anomalous objects, alongside Sarah Ahmed’s work on emotional ‘resonances’ around objects, as a basis towards understanding the emergence of feedback loops which result in the gradual shifting of particular phenomena or objects away from discursive spaces of rational debate and questioning. As these phenomena, people or objects move towards discursive spaces where deep-seated assumptions, meanings, imaginaries and emotions accumulate around them in particular formats, this can start to preclude open discussion and to render misunderstandings and miscommunication more likely when attempts at discussion do take place. As objects, people or phenomena move beyond question (at least among some groups in society), so does their power potentially increase and thus their usefulness in everyday processes of handling uncertain futures and vulnerability, partly by limiting other discussions and critical thiking. The paper will refer to a number of examples – drawn from medicine and politics – in order to examine the longer-term gradual processes and mechanisms of (de)magicalisation in more detail.