ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book describes paranormal investigators engage in somatic work to externalize sensations that they think may result from contact with a spirit. It aims to define the practice as personally and socially valuable despite its dually marginalized position. This strategy avoids appeals to scientific and spiritual legitimacy, and attempts to protect paranormal investigation from delegitimation by asserting its unique ability to help both the living and the dead. The book discusses social object of the “person” and status of “personhood” as outcomes of social processes whereby these are produced, applied, maintained, denied, or removed. The narrative development model is firmly rooted in symbolic interactionist conceptualizations of narrative as both a social process and product that frames individuals’ perceptions of reality. Erica Owens argues that “nonbiologic” objects, such as computers, may be considered social actors to the degree that people “do mind” for them.
