Witchcraft: A Traditional & Modern Social Context Analysis

"See! See! The Devil is here in Salem Village. His familiars--the dogs, the cats--work for this [witch], pinching and harassing your children (Lasky 70)." It was about 300 years ago that spoken words such as those defined a capital crime in early American history. Witchcraft as we know it today was once shrouded in mystery. If it had any power so long ago, then fear and uncertainty were the sources. The industrialized, scientific age would argue that …

…of social support. This example can be found throughout history in the Salem witch trials, the famous McCarthy accusations of communism in the 1950s, and recently in the idea that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction. So, when we explore witchcraft and magic it is easy to see that through the experience of practice, social reinforcement, and individual being and preference that it easy for one to be persuaded that witches and magic do exist