The Magic of Social Life

ESRC Festival of Social Science

As part of the 2020 ESRC Festival of Social Science, an annual celebration of the social sciences and ESRC-funded research, Professor Brian Rappert from the University of Exeter ran a series of entertainment magic performances.  Their purpose was to use the play of secrecy, disclosure and deception in magic to discuss the role of secrecy, disclosure and deception in art, science, war, and everyday life.

Over the last few years, Brian has been learning entertainment magic as a way of examining how skills are acquired. As part of this, he has offered face-to-face magic shows for the general public. This year’s ESRC Festival of Social Science events had to be conducted via Zoom due to restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brian’s Festival of Social Science contribution, titled The Magic of Social Life, was comprised of three on-line interactive magic sessions that combined tricks with moderated discussion. Brian and other academics, students, and members of the general public discussed themes associated with the social constitution of notions of self and other, the performative dimensions of everyday interactions, the social history of truth, the production of naturalness, and the sociology of ‘bullshit’ and ignorance.

The Results

On the back of these sessions, Brian has created a website that serves as a novel resource for conveying theories and concepts in the social sciences. This resource employs magic as a way of illustrating theories and concepts as well as using those theories and concepts as way of appreciating magic as a form of social interaction.

Explore The Magic of Social Life HERE.

Through the award, Brain held an event in 2022 titled: Secrecy and Revelation: Rethinking Social Life through Magic. On top of this, he has recorded a range of videos. This includes a series of 6 made in collaboration with a psychologist at Goldsmiths which explores how the performance of magic can most effectively be brought into teaching.

View his video for The British Sociological Association on magic and secrecy.

Future Impact

The Secrecy and Revelation: Rethinking Social Life through Magic award will enable the future experimental testing of the ways magic can be incorporated into classroom and public educational events to enhance interest, memory retention and engagement.

The funding has also enabled Brian to develop and trial a new format for an ‘academic magic show’.