George Hansen, author of the classic study The Trickster and the Paranormal, has posted two lectures on YouTube. George writes:
The first lecture, "History of Parapsychology," discusses the rise of psychical research from 1882 to the laboratory research of the 1980s. Some examples of ganzfeld telepathy results are shown.The second lecture, "The Decline of Parapsychology," focuses on 1989 to the present day. The decline is discussed in the context of history, sociology of religion, and secularization theory. Briefly, two thousand years ago cultural elites displayed strong antagonism to the paranormal, and they continue to do so today. The implications for the scientific acceptance of the field are considered. Although parapsychology is doing poorly, I discussed some promising areas for growth.