Occulture and Other Predictors of Paranormal Practices and Experiences in Contemporary Sweden

This article sets out from the acknowledgment that paranormal beliefs, practices, and experiences commonly occur in Western populations and are frequently represented in media and popular culture. The author argues that a positive association between these occurrences is often assumed rather than demonstrated. A testable hypothesis is derived using Christopher Partridge's (2004, 2006) claim that occulture acts as a plausibility structure for Western imagination. This hypothesis is tested using data from the Paranormal Sweden (n = 1101) survey, distributed to a national random sample of adult Swedes. Positive associations between occultural contact points and items on paranormal practices and experiences were viewed as evidence supporting the hypothesis. Following results from logistic regressions, I demonstrate that the hypothesis gains support. The other independent variable most affecting the likelihood of familiarity with paranormal practices and experiences was gender, with women being more prone than men to try out paranormal practices and to self-report experiences.