Superstition: An Overview of Key Disciplinary Perspectives

This chapter explores some of the disciplinary approaches to scholarship about superstition, concentrating largely on works published in theDisciplines and professionssocial sciences social sciencesSocial sciences over the last century. Namely, it highlights the contributions ofDisciplines and professionspsychology psychologyPsychology/psychiatry andDisciplines and professionsanthropology anthropologyAnthropology before addressing empirical and scholarly work undertaken by academics in the field ofDisciplines and professionsbusiness businessBusiness, managementManagement andDisciplines and professionsmanagement alliedIndustriessport disciplines such asDisciplines and professionssports sportsSports management. Many of the themes presented in this chapter are revisited more fully in those that follow but it should serve as a basisBasis for recognising, in critical ways, some of the multiple lenses that are brought to the study of superstition. It ends with a brief account of the discipline of decision makingDecision making and suggests how some of its forms that are not based on verifiable evidence may resonate with superstitious beliefs and behaviours in workplace contexts.