, Gérald Bronner, The Future of Collective Beliefs, Oxford, The Bardwell Press, 2011, , 2011

Who still believes in Father Christmas, Bloody Mary or the man in the moon? How, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, can some people still support creationism? What did President Mitterrand of France learn from his personal astrologer?

In this intriguing book on the sociology of beliefs, Gérald Bronner examines the social processes that perpetuate all types of strange and erroneous ideas. Using models based on cognitive science, he explores the weird and wonderful domain of the “market for ideas”. Although we may think that scientific progress roots out the seeds of false belief, Bronner unlocks the answer to why the advance of reason opens up new terrains on which the weeds of error can flourish.

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