# The Superstition Industry: Does it exist in the developed world outside the U.S.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885 "2008-11-09T06:20:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/21 "2008-11-09T10:17:31Z")
They don’t really exist in the UK outside of shops selling traditional Chinese medicine. Presumably these are aimed at the immigrant community, not native Britons themselves. Certainly I’ve never seen a clairvoyant’s shop on any street in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/22 "2008-11-09T10:55:44Z")
> [@Westrogothia](#): > > I have never seen a storefront in sweden with tarot, palm reading, snake oil vendor, astrologist etc. I dont think its profitable enough here. > while industrialized superstition exists as daily horoscopes in all newspapers, books on feng-hui and phonenumbers that you can call to get your fortunes told. The lady with a crystal ball in a storefront on premium property just doesnt exist. > > Organized religion isnt doing to well in sweden either. Just replace “Sweden” with “Denmark” in the text and you’ve got a description of the situation here. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/23 "2008-11-09T15:24:47Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > They don’t really exist in the UK outside of shops selling traditional Chinese medicine. Presumably these are aimed at the immigrant community, not native Britons themselves. Certainly I’ve never seen a clairvoyant’s shop on any street in the UK. Most British cities will at least have some New Age store/bookshop that provides a venue for advertising such services, though in most cases those advertising don’t seem to be working out of the same premises. In the case of at least a couple of the New Age shops clustered round Covent Garden, however, that they offer Tarot readings and the like are at least part of their streetfront marketing. But these are still primarily bookshops. For that matter, Selfridges was offering Tarot readings on the premises recently. But the **Capt.** is right: what you don’t see in British cities are US-style clairvoyant shopfronts. I’d hesitate to say I’ve never seen one here, but they’re certainly far rarer here than in the US. Probably more a reflection of a different traditional business model than any fundamental difference in national levels of credulity. We do still have the occasional old-style “Gypsy Fortune Teller” booths at seaside resorts. Though no doubt largely as a specific holiday joke alongside “Kiss Me Quick” hats and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/24 "2008-11-09T15:39:28Z")
I think the OP has been answered, but as a folklorist I have to chime in. There is a LOT to distinguish superstition from religion on a technical level. A superstition is a single belief; a religion is a belief system including narrative, ritual, festival, and other complex behaviors. I may not like either one, but it is worth distinguishing between them if you want to discuss how they function. Businesses all over the earth take advantage of the gullible and the stupid. Many of them, all over the world, in both traditional and urban first-world societies, focus on culture-bound beliefs in the areas of healing, divination, religion, body image, etc. In fact, it is often difficult to distinguish between religion and healing in folk cultures. Some of these are actually quite useful. A good gypsy fortuneteller can be as effective as a psychotherapist, and both cheaper and more accessible for some subcultures. Many of them, of course, are just greedy and evil. (I’d say most, but I have no data to back it up.) The final point is that this isn’t irrational behavior. Unscientific, yes, but based on a set of untested premises and preconceived notions known as culture, people are being rational in their choices. If you believe in spirits, it’s no great leap to believe they cause bad luck, and how else would you deal with that? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/25 "2008-11-09T15:49:38Z")
All the fortune telling places in Chicago that I can think of are in people’s garden apartments or street level storefronts with apartments above. We have a lot of those kinds of buildings, with street level storefronts and residential space up top. Madame Clarinda’s paying a mortgage on the whole building, perhaps, but it’s her home as well as her business. Her hours may vary, she may have another job entirely. Every one of the astrologers/tarot readers I know personally has a regular job (one’s a hospital social worker, another a nurse, two are lawyers, one a high school teacher) by which they make rent, and the readings are just a sideline. (Of course, none of them have storefronts, either.) And **Dr. Drake** is right. It’s much more like practicing psychology without a license than intentional hucksterism, at least in the case of the people I hang out with. In fact, I can say I’ve never stumbled across one of these “greedy and evil” ones in person. They may seem fantastic to you, but they really do believe that what they’re doing is good, whether it works on a psychological or spiritual level. Perhaps they themselves are prey to their own confirmation bias, but I don’t think that makes them evil. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/26 "2008-11-09T15:57:16Z")
The newscasts I occasionally watch on Univision include the daily horoscope as part of the news hour. I don’t know whether it is broadcast only in the United States or also outside the US. It also depends on where you draw the line on superstition. Pilgrims still travel to Lourdes to get cured. Corpses still get thrown into the Ganges. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/27 "2008-11-09T16:30:05Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > We do still have the occasional old-style “Gypsy Fortune Teller” booths at seaside resorts. That’s a good exception. If you go to Blackpool (I used to live there) there are still quite a few fortune tellers to be found along the Golden Mile. One family, the Petulengros, have been telling fortunes there for nearly 40 years, latterly on the North Pier. It’s very much a seasonal activity, though. While they may well supplement their income by doing other work in the winter, it’s clear the revenue from the fortune telling game in summer yields enough of a living to make it worth their while. ---
**Author:** ![KnitWit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@KnitWit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KnitWit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/28 "2008-11-09T16:31:34Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > I guess that, for many of them, all they need is a deck of cards and a few other props, so their overheads aren’t that great. Right. My first response to the OP (even though it doesn’t really answer the question) is that it’s not profitable here either. The number of store front signs is probably misleading. People who own other businesses can scam walk-in fraud clients with zero expense and 100% profit. All you need, really, is a neon sign. Once that’s paid for, you’re good to go for years. The rent needn’t be paid with fortune-telling profits. In fact, the rent needn’t necessarily be paid. Additionally, hocus pocus could be a bit like lipstick and McDonald’s…one of those expenses that people are more likely to take on in a poor economy. I can’t afford real luxuries, but a $16 lipstick is within my reach. People looking for good news who’ve got $25 in their pockets may spend it on hearing good news rather than sinking it into a lousy stock market. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/29 "2008-11-09T16:34:45Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > All the fortune telling places in Chicago that I can think of are in people’s garden apartments or street level storefronts with apartments above. We have a lot of those kinds of buildings, with street level storefronts and residential space up top. That’s what I was going to say. The difference between a palm reader shop and a home is a neon sign in the window. And I think I see them more commonly outside of the city, in some of the further suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/30 "2008-11-09T20:42:05Z")
My WAG is that religious belief and superstition tend to be associated together (in the sense that atheists shouldn’t believe in invisible luck, and that if you believe in an invisible god then its not a big jump to lucky charms). The US is a bit different to most western countries in being very religious too - unlike say Sweden which is very secular so less likely to support the snake oil industry ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/31 "2008-11-09T22:38:38Z")
I have a nagging suspicion that a significant percentage of these types of businesses exist for the purpose of laundering money. I would think it would be the perfect “front” business. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/32 "2008-11-09T23:13:25Z")
Bear in mind, there are VERY different sets of clientele for different sorts of “superstition industries.” The old-fashioned palm readers, astrologers, and Gypsy fortune tellers have always attracted low-rent, blue-collar, ill-educated customers. On the other hand, the people who are into Wicca, crystals, past life regression and other New Age crap tend to be well-off financially and very well educated. And such people would undoubtedly look down on the lower-class folk who go to palm readers! ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/33 "2008-11-10T05:32:18Z")
> [@Westrogothia](#): > > I have never seen a storefront in sweden with tarot, palm reading, snake oil vendor, astrologist etc. I dont think its profitable enough here. > while industrialized superstition exists as daily horoscopes in all newspapers, books on feng-hui and phonenumbers that you can call to get your fortunes told. The lady with a crystal ball in a storefront on premium property just doesnt exist. > > Organized religion isnt doing to well in sweden either. No, but you have saunas and spas. Got a cold?..take a sauna, Got arthritis?.. take a sauna, Got Cancer? take a sauna. Europeans believe Saunas along with Homeopathy can cure anything. The baths, spas, and saunas often have some natural curative properties supposedly originating from the mineral content of the local water or mud. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/34 "2008-11-10T12:53:06Z")
In Spain fortune tellers have gone high-tech and they have TV programs where people call in and on the screen they have a toll number where you pay through the nose by the minute. Late at night half of the channels are showing these while the other half have the similar sex programs. I always figure the men are watching the sex programs while the women are watching the fortune tellers. Well, there are also all sorts of infomercials for exercise equipment and other assorted crap. Fortune tellers also work out of the home (apartments) but they have no outside signs. They probably advertise in low quality newspapers. People are gullible around the world. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/35 "2008-11-10T12:57:16Z")
Of course there’s an industry outside the U.S. There’s that giant supercollider in Switzerland, which will hopefully produce the Higgs Boson and possibly gravitons… Oh wait, I thought you said _Superstring_ Industry. Never mind, carry on. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/36 "2008-11-10T14:10:23Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > They don’t really exist in the UK outside of shops selling traditional Chinese medicine. Presumably these are aimed at the immigrant community, not native Britons themselves. Certainly I’ve never seen a clairvoyant’s shop on any street in the UK. Well, there’s [this shop](http://www.thearchangelmichaelhealingcentre.com/) near where I live in Edinburgh… And several pubs and shops, etc. offer tarot readings, but not as their main source of income. The ones I can think of are mainly in the tourist areas like the Old Town. The long-established specialist tarot card shop closed a few years back, though, and the bloke moved to the south of France to continue his business via the web. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/37 "2008-11-10T14:24:18Z")
In Spain you don’t usually see a palm reader with an actual brick store, although they’re commonish among street vendors, specially in highly touristy locations. There’s a store in my hometown which has been on business for several years and brings all the nutso courses to town. They’re the ones who don’t just sell you a pretty pyramidal paperweight, they insist on telling you how to orient it and want to know how your desk is placed in relationship to the door, the window and the north pole. They’re also the kind of people whose first reaction when you tell them the magnetic and geographic North Poles are different is to deny it, from what friends have told me. I’m tempted to go there and mention the astronomic North Pole just to see if their heads explode, but it might count as premeditated murder _halo_ There’s a kind of store that I’ve seen all through Western Europe (well, the parts of it I’ve visited), which combines crafty things with feng-shui, fairy statues, tarot packs (but they don’t read them for you), books on “magical arts” and incense sticks. In general they only sell the items, they don’t go to your house and tell you how to feng-shui it. There’s tons of tarot-by-phone and psychic-by-phone services. I’ve read articles where the reporter talked to people who used those and many of them sounded like “yeah, I know he’s just a headologist! But, unlike the psychologist, he is good at his job and doesn’t kick me out the door until I’m satisfied.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/38 "2008-11-10T14:38:51Z")
There are a number of ‘angel’ shops springing up everywhere here, having never visited one I’m not exactly sure what they sell, statues of angels or something like that. They’re also havens for every other superstition you could want. There are Tarot premium rate phone lines. There are psychics on tv and the radio. Healing has always been popular here and various healers around the country command huge followings and huge incomes from desperate people. I’ve seen fly posters for Angel Therapy, whatever that is. There are holy wells galore and Knock and other shrines. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/39 "2008-11-10T14:54:27Z")
There are a noticeable amount of practicioners of asian-ish/new-age-ish/astrological practices esp. in health-related fields here in Germany, also a large niche publishing market - but I don’t recall ever seeing it in storefront form like the OP. It seems to be almost invariably home-based (or office-/practice-based). There are about 20k licensed practicioners of various forms of complementary medicine here, compared with \> 300k practicing physicians (there is a state-administered licensing scheme which does not test the efficiacy of the _Heilpraktiker_’s practice but seeks to ensure that the practicioner is “no acute danger to public health”, mostly by testing on basic anatomy and physiology. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885/40 "2008-11-10T15:01:02Z")
This brand of quack medicine seems to be very popular in France, less so in Germany. My question: since both countries have government-run health services, why do they fund this (obvious) quackery? Can you sue your homeopathic “physician” (in France) if he misdiagnoses/mistreats your fatal case of cancer? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-superstition-industry-does-it-exist-in-the-developed-world-outside-the-u-s/471885.md?page=3)