Capitalists’ magical thinking | Letters

The language of enchantment is used by architects, bankers, entrepreneurs, marketers and others devoted to the art of 'spin', says Brian Moeran. Plus: lessons have been learned since the 2008 crash, says Nick Mayer, a former director for Lehman Brothers

Philip Pullman presents a persuasive case for why we should continue to believe in magic (The realm of enchantment, Review, 1 September), even though most Guardian readers live in a contemporary social world that pays lip service at least to rational practices (Donald Trump notwithstanding). He asks whether there might be varieties of magical experience and suggests that such a book has yet to be written.

Such a book does indeed exist. A recent edited volume, Magical Capitalism, covers topics ranging from contract law to science, by way of finance, business, marketing, advertising, cultural production, and the political economy in general. Its contributors - all anthropologists - argue that the kind of magic studied by their predecessors in less developed societies - shamanism, sorcery, enchantment, the occult - is not only alive and well, but flourishing in the midst of so-called "modernity". As the Ashmolean Museum exhibition would have its visitors, we are frequently and unconsciously "spellbound".

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