Abstract
Fortune Telling: An Economic Concept of Popular Culture
Human, with a nature and desire to survive and to make his life meaningful from the very first day of his existence up to now, has created and used a myriad of rituels to keep his happiness and security both in his inner world and social environment. One of these rituels is fortune-telling, maintaining its effect from the ancient times to date. Fortune-telling, from Ancient Greek to Rome, from Babylon to Ancient Egypt, and Sumer, from post-Islamic Turkish societies to the Ottoman Empire and to modern societies, has widely been used. Even today, people belive in fortune-telling for various purposes both in their social and virtual environments. Thus, due to its large popularity, it was quiet normal that fortune-telling has become an economic activity and a profession in most societies, leading to the production of economic values. In today’s world, most cultural assets and values tend to survive by getting involved in economic activities and creating economic values, and fortune-telling is no different. Thus, it is now an economic good ready to consume, buy and sell.
Curiosity feelings of the human beings and their wish for escaping from the indefineteness caused fortune-telling and fortunetellers to be strong in the social life. Tradition of fortune-telling growed in social life by invading the minds of most of the human beings as it wrapped various garbs from yesterday to today. As a result of folk life and reflection of thoughts to language, today fortune-telling takes place in our art. In this study, fortune-telling is examined under these topics: “Fortune-telling concept, fortune-telling kinds and fortunetellers”, “Fortune-telling in old civilizations”, “Fortune-telling in Turkish culture before Islamism”, “Fortune-telling in Islam and Turkish Islam Traditions”, “Fortune-telling in social life”, Characteristics of human beings who believe in fortune-telling”, “Fortune-telling in popular culture and its economical dimension”. This study deals with the long history of fortune-telling from the ancient times with a focus on its economic value in social and cultural spheres in modern societies.
Keywords
Fortune telling, Virtual Environment, Popular Culture, Cultural Economy