Moral and financial economics of ‘digital magic’: Explorations of an opening field

Abstract

The relationship between religion and the Internet has been attracting more attention by researchers in recent years. Magic, however, is still relatively overlooked in this area, and has not given rise to influential studies in the field. Based on investigations on the Internet, other new information and communication technologies, and a survey of the scientific literature, this article intends to lay the groundwork for a consideration of magic and new information technology, and to highlight the specificity of a perspective in terms of digital magic, distinct from that of one exclusively focused on digital religion.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Organizational magic as a contested process of revelation and concealment

“…Magic has seen a rise in interest among OMS scholars (Berg, 2008;Hancock, 2020;Letiche, Linstead, & Moriceau, 2020;Löfgren & Willim, 2005;Obadia, 2020;Palo et al, 2020). Clark and Salaman's (1996) work on management gurus as organizational witchdoctors broke ground in this respect as it was among the first in-depth studies within the field that took the concept of magic seriously (cf.…”

‘Spiritual’ witchcraft and magic 2.0 as weapons of resistance: The emergence of a new movement?

“…Departing from the study of magic in modern technological environments, I have developed elsewhere (Obadia, 2020a), this article aims at exploring the what can be called a ‘spiritualization’ of online witchcraft : cyberspace is a site of encounter and hybridization with spirituality.…”

“…In a context of technological communication and mediatization, the lexical basis of ‘magic’ and ‘witchcraft’ remains unchanged, but their semantics are subjected to significant reframing: magic has become trendy and sounds in an Age of machines, technologies, and digitization of cultures around the world (Aupers, 2002; Obadia, 2020a; O’har, 2000; Stahl, 1995). In his pioneering and influential book Techgnosis (2005 for the second edition), Erik Davies maintains that new media, and connected technologies offer a chance to witches to have a revenge against history.…”

“…Magic has a strong resonance in the context of the digital revolution and the development of artificial intelligence and robotics, where it has become a kind of reference that cannot be ignored to designate the irrational side of the relationship with these new machines (Obadia, 2021). However, it is important to distinguish in this context between the magic of machines and technologies (in this case, how machines become the object of beliefs for their own sake) and the magic through machines and technologies (in this case, how machines and computer programs contribute to the circulation of references to magic, both in terms of beliefs (the digitalized magical movements) and in terms of new cultural forms (the new economy of magic that is unfolding in 'online witch' circles) (Obadia, 2020a). As for witchcraft, it can be associated the modern extension of the domain of magic but also relatively autonomous: the new witchcraft assumes multiple forms either born of the global offensive of evangelical religions which designate as such the old polytheistic or animistic beliefs, or arising from social tensions generated by rapid economic mutations (Geschiere, 2000) or constituted as self-proclaimed movements and, in all cases, are linked to political tensions.…”

“…For scholars like Ezzy (2001) and Waldron (2005), this is related to the rise of modern consumer culture and market structure in the new economy of the sacred, and it seems like that magic would be less threatened than other 'ancient' beliefs by the logics of global capitalism and can even benefit from this situation to take advantage on religion in secular contexts, where it can flourish in accordance with economic instrumentalism and materialism (Clifton, 2006, Obadia, 2020a. A closer look at the relationships between magic and economy in history, however, calls for a relativization of this modernist posture: regardless of time and space, there is an intimate connection between the two since magic is not about belonging, even not believing, but 'dealing' and contracting with the supernatural forces (Obadia, 2013).…”