Magic

To the modern mind-set magic is often associated with an irrational or childish view of the world. Where it once was, like philosophy, the equivalent of science, the way of explaining things and affecting the world, it is now seen as poor science or an inadequate means of working with the world.
Another view is that like religion magic has and does serve as a way of keeping social order. Serving as a symbolic function in society, magic like religion becomes a non-rational practice rather than irrational when compared to the predominant modern western conception of the world.