Sorry people - not a lot to go on for a radical change of mind.
I really don't know what the "fascinating developments in the study of folklore in the last twenty-or-so years" are, so I can't comment, but Darowyn and Sweeney's Man put it in a nutshell when they referred to folklore as "part & parcel of any human community" and community as implying "some communal communication across the whole group". For me, "community" is something far more extensive than the family or individual, (or the folk club, for that matter') - as is "folk".
There is no argument as far as I'm concerned, that individuals have practices and beliefs which can be described as 'lore', but the 'folk' prefix, I believe precludes these from being folklore.
The nicely concise 'Oxford English Reference Dictionary' definition just about covers it for me: "the traditional beliefs and stories of A PEOPLE and the study of these."
E.P.Thompson's observation about folklore 'being born from genteel antiquarians'
As an admirer of Thompson, having heard him speak on numerous occasions, I was not really surprised to read this quote. Being of a left persuasion myself, I have always shared MacColl's irritation of what I believe to be the lack of understanding by many of the left of the realities of peoples' culture. Much like Marx's description of (not sure of the exact quote) "the numbing idiocy of country life", it seems to lack experience and personal knowledge.
Folklore certainly was not the invention of "genteel antiquarians". They may have drawn the wrong conclusions, but I believe we are indebted to some of the on-the-spot descriptions to be found in publications such as 'The Gentleman's Magazine', 'Word Lore', and the early editions of 'The Folklore Journal' and 'The Country Magazine'; also from such people as John Timms, Robert Chambers, William Hone and Thomas Westropp. Our understanding of the subject has moved on considerably since these early days, but these pioneers all helped provide us with a reasonable introduction to the subject.
Folklore was, and remains a living reality, often tragically so, as we discovered with the case of one of our elderly singers who chose to treat a sore eye at a local holy well rather than go to the doctor and died when it developed into a brain tumour.
The more negative aspects of folklore can be seen in the Bridie Cleary case, when a woman suspected of being a changeling 'taken by the fairies' was burned to death by her husband, family and neighbours (with the knowledge of the local priest and members of the police force); an event which was considered significant enough to be used as a excuse for not granting Ireland Home Rule at the end of the 19th century.
Jim Carroll