University of Hertfordshire Research Archive

        JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

        Browse

        All of UHRABy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitles

        Arkivum Files

        My Downloads
        View Item 
        • UHRA Home
        • University of Hertfordshire
        • PhD Theses Collection
        • View Item
        • UHRA Home
        • University of Hertfordshire
        • PhD Theses Collection
        • View Item

        Belief in Ghosts in Post-War England

        View/Open
        Download fulltext (PDF, 1Mb)
        Author
        Cowdell, Paul
        Attention
        2299/7184
        Abstract
        This project examined, by qualitative investigation, the actual content and mechanics of ghost beliefs in Britain today. Through questionnaire, personal interview, and email correspondence, the beliefs and experiences of 227 people were assessed, and considered against historical and international analogous material. The research began with some basic questions: who believes; what do they believe; how do they narrate their stories; and how do they understand this in the context of other beliefs? This research found a broad social spread of ghost belief. The circulation of ghost narratives takes place within social groups defined in part by their seriousness about the discussion. This does not preclude jokes, disagreements or the discrediting of specific events, so long as the discussion considers ghosts attentively and seriously. Informants brought a sophisticated range of influences to bear on narratives and their interpretation, including some scientific knowledge and understanding. Informants discussed a broad range of phenomena within a consideration of ‘ghosts’: there is no easy correlation of a narrator’s interpretation and the kind of manifestation being described. Some accounts were related as polished stories, but this did not impact directly on their belief content. The interrelationship between oral narrative and artistic representation highlights the shaping and exchange of stories to accommodate belief content. This ability to adjust between apparently different registers of discussion also illustrates how ghost beliefs fit the structures of other, more institutional, belief systems held by informants. A key finding, considering sociological discussions of secularisation and historiographical associations of heterodox beliefs with political radicalism, is that personal folk beliefs are slower developing and more conservative than institutional forms, which respond more quickly to socio-economic changes. Immediate institutional responses to changed conditions may not, therefore, correlate directly with a corresponding change in ghost belief.
        Publication date
        2011-11-29
        Other links
        http://hdl.handle.net/2299/7184
        Metadata
        Show full item record

        Related items

        Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

        • Attachment Security, Self-Concept Clarity and Beliefs in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 

          May, Elizabeth (2007-10-05)
          Cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that an ambivalent self-concept and dysfunctional beliefs play an important role in the pathogenesis of OCD. Early attachment experience is argued to be the ...
        • Women's Experiences, Beliefs and Knowledge of Urinary Symptoms in the Postpartum Period and the Perceptions of Health Professionals 

          Wagg, A. (2010-05-25)
          The study was developed after research with older women suffering urinary symptoms showed that many had tolerated social, psychological and hygiene effects on their lives for some time. There is evidence that some symptoms ...
        • Beliefs About the Causes of Mental Illness and Attitudes Towards Seeking Help: A Study of British Jewry 

          Rose, Esther Davida (2010-09-03)
          Existing research and anecdotal accounts have consistently reported that Jewish people are positively inclined to seek treatment for mental health problems, including making use of psychiatric services and psychotherapy. ...
        Keep in touch

        © 2019 University of Hertfordshire

        I want to...

        • Apply for a course
        • Download a Prospectus
        • Find a job at the University
        • Make a complaint
        • Contact the Press Office

        Go to...

        • Accommodation booking
        • Your student record
        • Bayfordbury
        • KASPAR
        • UH Arts

        The small print

        • Terms of use
        • Privacy and cookies
        • Criminal Finances Act 2017
        • Modern Slavery Act 2015
        • Sitemap

        Find/Contact us

        • T: +44 (0)1707 284000
        • E: ask@herts.ac.uk
        • Where to find us
        • Parking
        • hr
        • qaa
        • stonewall
        • AMBA
        • ECU Race Charter
        • disability confident
        • AthenaSwan