Astrology's appeal in uncertain times

"In a new study published in the sociology journal Social Currents, we examined who consults astrology, how they use it and why they're drawn to it. Drawing on nationally representative surveys, interviews with Americans and conversations with professional astrologers, we found that astrology is less about predicting the future and more about making sense of the self in an uncertain world."

"Astrology - the idea that the positions and movements of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars influence events on Earth - has a long history. For centuries, it was closely linked with astronomy. Early astronomers were also astrologers, charting the stars to measure time and interpret their influence on human life. The familiar 12-sign zodiac dates back to the fifth century B.C.E., and astrology was taught in medieval universities."

"Astronomy and astrology began to diverge in the 17th century. As astronomy embraced mathematics and observation during the Scientific Revolution, astrology increasingly lost its scholarly legitimacy and was pushed to the margins. By the 19th century, science itself became professionalized. Universities and academies formalized disciplines, research careers and standards of evidence. With astronomy firmly established as a science, astrology was relegated to the realm of the occult or pseudoscience."

Astrology appears frequently in everyday life, with people invoking signs on social media, dating profiles and in casual conversation. Popularity coexists with skepticism, and many people engage with astrology for entertainment without full belief. Nationally representative surveys, interviews with Americans and conversations with professional astrologers indicate astrology functions less as a tool for predicting the future and more as a resource for making sense of identity in an uncertain world. Astrology traces back to ancient practices linked to astronomy, with the 12-sign zodiac originating in the fifth century B.C.E. Astronomy diverged from astrology during the Scientific Revolution, and by the 19th century science professionalization relegated astrology to the realm of the occult or pseudoscience.

Read at The Conversation