MODERNIZATION, SUPERSTITION, AND CULTURAL CHANGE

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.