The Mysterious Stranger and Modern Enchantment
1Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
The British Journal of Sociology
|July 29, 2026
Summary
Modern enchantment arises from mystery, not just rationalization. This study explores how urban elements like windows and trains generate mystery, shaping modern experiences and sensibilities.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Cultural Studies
- Urban Studies
Background:
- Traditional sociological theories of modernity focus on rationalization and alienation.
- Enchantment is often overlooked or treated as a remnant of pre-modernity.
- Existing theories fail to capture enchantment as an integral part of modern social life.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a new framework for understanding enchantment in modernity.
- To identify mystery as a key cultural structure generating modern enchantment.
- To analyze how urban environments facilitate experiences of mystery and enchantment.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of sociological concepts of modernity and enchantment.
- Examination of mystery as a cultural structure organizing encounters with the unknown.
- Case studies focusing on urban settings, architectural transparency, and mobility.
- Analysis of literary and artistic representations (Baudelaire, Hopper, Le Corbusier, Hitchcock).
Main Results:
- Mystery transforms mundane information gaps into significant experiences, creating affective depth.
- Enchantment is decentralized from religious or traditional centers, found in ordinary cultural experiences.
- Urban elements like windows, glass façades, and trains structure modern sensibilities through mediated encounters.
- Mystery is an endogenous and durable feature of modern urban experience, not a pre-modern survival.
Conclusions:
- Mystery is a constitutive element of modern enchantment, deeply embedded in social meaning.
- Urban environments actively shape and generate experiences of enchantment through mystery.
- This approach offers a more nuanced understanding of modern social and cultural dynamics beyond rationalization.
More Related Videos
07:43A Naturalistic Setup for Presenting Real People and Live Actions in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Studies
Published on: August 4, 2023
05:51Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: May 15, 2016
Related Concept Videos
01:29Magical Thinking
Magical thinking encompasses the belief in assumptions that defy logical reasoning yet appear intuitively convincing. It is a common psychological phenomenon that persists across various cultural and individual contexts. While these assumptions contradict empirical evidence and scientific laws, they often serve meaningful psychological roles in promoting emotional resilience and a sense of control, especially under stress or uncertainty.Thought-Action Fusion and the Law of SimilarityA key...
00:57Deindividuation
Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual’s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while in a group setting. Why? Because in these group settings, the individual no longer sees themselves as an individual anymore, disinhibiting their behavior and personal restraint.
01:14Understanding Deception
Deception is a pervasive aspect of human communication. Empirical studies have shown that most individuals engage in some form of deceit on a daily basis, with approximately 20% of social exchanges involving deceptive elements. Lying follows a developmental trajectory, peaking during adolescence and declining with age, possibly due to the maturation of cognitive control and social accountability.Cognitive and Social Factors in Deception DetectionDespite its prevalence, accurately detecting...
01:10Simple Pendulum
A simple pendulum consists of a small diameter ball suspended from a string, which has negligible mass but is strong enough to not stretch. In our daily life, pendulums have many uses, such as in clocks, on a swing set, and on a sinker on a fishing line.
The period of a simple pendulum depends on two factors: its length and the acceleration due to gravity. The period is completely independent of any other factors, such as mass or maximum displacement. For small displacements, a pendulum is...
The period of a simple pendulum depends on two factors: its length and the acceleration due to gravity. The period is completely independent of any other factors, such as mass or maximum displacement. For small displacements, a pendulum is...
01:23Extrasensory Perception
Extrasensory perception, or ESP, suggests the ability to perceive events beyond the conventional senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Parapsychologists, who research ESP and related psychic phenomena, categorize ESP into three main types: precognition, telepathy, and clairvoyance.
Precognition involves foreseeing future events, such as predicting an accident before it happens. An example of precognition could be someone dreaming about a specific event, like a car crash, which then occurs...
Precognition involves foreseeing future events, such as predicting an accident before it happens. An example of precognition could be someone dreaming about a specific event, like a car crash, which then occurs...
01:23Factors Influencing Attraction III: Similarity
The similarity hypothesis suggests that individuals are more likely to form relationships with others who share similar attitudes, beliefs, values, and interests. This concept has been widely studied in social psychology, demonstrating that perceived similarity fosters interpersonal attraction. In an experiment supporting this hypothesis, participants were presented with fabricated information indicating that strangers held attitudes similar to their own. The results showed that participants...