IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/woraff/v186y2023i4p869-895.html

Modernization, Superstition, And Cultural Change

Author

Listed:
  • Riccardo Pelizzo
  • Daulet Turganov
  • Nygmetzhan Kuzenbayev

Abstract

By exploring the relationship between socioeconomic development, secularism, and the pervasiveness of traditional beliefs, this article shows that while some traditional practices and beliefs, such as making use of traditional healers, are negatively and significantly related to several development indicators, there is little to no detectable (statistical) relationship between other traditional beliefs and practices, such as believing in and seeing a jinn, and development. The evidence presented in the article sustains the claim, advanced at the turn of the millennium by Inglehart and Baker, that the impact of socioeconomic development on values, attitudes, and cultural change is complex and non‐linear. Al explorar la relación entre el desarrollo socioeconómico, el secularismo y la omnipresencia de las creencias tradicionales, el documento muestra que, si bien algunas prácticas y creencias tradicionales, como el uso de curanderos tradicionales, están negativa y significativamente relacionadas con varios indicadores de desarrollo, hay poca a ninguna relación detectable (estadística) entre otras creencias y prácticas tradicionales, como creer y ver a un genio, y el desarrollo. La evidencia presentada en el artículo respalda la afirmación, propuesta por Inglehart y Baker (2000), de que el impacto del desarrollo socioeconómico en los valores, las actitudes y el cambio cultural es complejo y no lineal. 通过探究社会经济发展、世俗主义和传统信仰普遍性之间的关系,本文表明,虽然一些传统实践和信仰(例如使用传统治疗师)与一些发展指标存在显著的负相关关系,但其他传统信仰和实践(例如相信和看到精灵)与发展之间几乎没有可检测到的(统计)关系。本文提供的证据支持了Inglehart和Baker提出的观点,即社会经济发展对价值观、态度和文化变迁的影响是复杂且非线性的。

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo Pelizzo & Daulet Turganov & Nygmetzhan Kuzenbayev, 2023. "Modernization, Superstition, And Cultural Change," World Affairs, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 186(4), pages 869-895, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:woraff:v:186:y:2023:i:4:p:869-895
    DOI: 10.1177/00438200231203012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/00438200231203012
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00438200231203012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nygmetzhan Kuzenbayev & Riccardo Pelizzo, 2023. "Political Stability, Confidence in the Future, and Values," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 1996. "Magic and witchcraft: Implications for democratization and poverty-alleviating aid in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 1347-1355, August.
    3. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    4. World Bank, 2013. "World Development Indicators 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13191, April.
    5. Gershman, Boris, 2016. "Witchcraft beliefs and the erosion of social capital: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 182-208.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Welander, Anna & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Nilsson, Therese, 2014. "Globalization and Child Health in Developing Countries: The Role of Democracy," Working Paper Series 1016, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    2. Erich Gundlach & Martin Paldam, 2016. "Socioeconomic transitions as common dynamic processes," Economics Working Papers 2016-06, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    3. von Soest, Christian & Wahman, Michael, 2013. "Sanctions and Democratization in the Post-Cold War Era," GIGA Working Papers 212, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    4. John Anyanwu & Andrew E. O. Erhijakpor, 2013. "Working Paper 184 - Does Oil Wealth Affect Democracy in Africa?," Working Paper Series 988, African Development Bank.
    5. Welander, Anna & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Nilsson, Therese, 2015. "Globalization, democracy, and child health in developing countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 52-63.
    6. Rasmané OUEDRAOGO & Jean-Louis COMBES, 2014. "How does external debt impact democratization? Evidence from developing countries," Working Papers 201408, CERDI.
    7. repec:bcp:journl:v:6:y:2022:i:8:p:234-242 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Riccardo Pelizzo & Nygmetzhan Kuzenbayev, 2023. "Traditional Practices And Support For The Strongman," World Affairs, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 186(4), pages 951-977, December.
    9. Vittorio Daniele & Paolo Malanima, 2019. "Trends in Mediterranean Inequalities 1950-2015," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 66(4), pages 385-410.
    10. J. Clark & Robert Lawson & Alex Nowrasteh & Benjamin Powell & Ryan Murphy, 2015. "Does immigration impact institutions?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 321-335, June.
    11. Kohnert, Dirk, 2003. "Witchcraft and Transnational Social Spaces: Witchcraft Violence, Reconciliation and Development in South Africa's Transition Process," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 217-245.
    12. Muhammad Shafiullah & Ravinthirakumaran Navaratnam, 2016. "Do Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Enjoy Export-Led Growth? A Comparison of Two Small South Asian Economies," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 17(1), pages 114-132, March.
    13. Lewkowicz, Jacek & Woźniak, Michał & Wrzesiński, Michał, 2022. "COVID-19 and erosion of democracy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    14. Jian-Guang Shen, 2002. "Democracy and growth: An alternative empirical approach," Development and Comp Systems 0212002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. repec:rza:wpaper:029 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Mehlum, Halvor & Moene, Karl Ove & Østenstad, Gry, 2025. "Add and rule," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    17. Seghezza, Elena & Pittaluga, Giovanni B., 2018. "Resource rents and populism in resource-dependent economies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 83-88.
    18. Maria Iacovou, 2013. "The relationship between incomes and living arrangements: variation between countries, over the life course, and over time," ImPRovE Working Papers 13/15, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    19. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," Thema Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    20. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla, 2017. "The Causal Factors of International Inequality in $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions Per Capita: A Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 683-700, August.
    21. Tausch, Arno, 2018. "The return of religious Antisemitism? The evidence from World Values Survey data," MPRA Paper 90093, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Marijke Verpoorten, 2014. "Growth, poverty and inequality in Rwanda: a broad perspective," Working Papers of LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance 490896, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:woraff:v:186:y:2023:i:4:p:869-895. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.