Doing Conspiracy Theory: The Making and Unmaking of Stigmatized Knowledge

Tuesday, 8 July 2025: 19:00-20:30
Location: SJES021 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
RC14 Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture (host committee)

Language: English

Conspiracy theories are an object of concern in the contested landscapes of social and political knowledge. Even though research revealed that overall belief in conspiracy theories does not seem to have increased notably over the last decades, they are increasingly understood as a symptom of crisis of societies facing permanent conflict on complex political problems and rapidly evolving media infrastructures. Yet, while the psychological aspects of conspiracy theory belief have been heavily researched, sociological inquiries into the everyday production, communication and critique of conspiracy theories have been surprisingly scarce. The session brings together empirical and theoretical investigations into the production of conspiracy theories as a social problem in a double sense: as a practical problem for those articulating their critique and discontent through conspiracy theories, and as a problem for those grappling with and fighting conspiracy theories as a problem itself. Questions include (but are not limited to):

how are conspiracy theories...

  • ...deployed to make sense of everyday problems
  • ...used to articulate political critique
  • ...practically differentiated from other forms of political knowledge
  • ...criticized and defended in different communicative arenas
Session Organizer:
Nils C. KUMKAR, University of Bremen, Germany
Chair:
Nils C. KUMKAR, University of Bremen, Germany
Oral Presentations
Social Experiences and Their Processing through Conspiracy Theories
Markus BRUNNER, Sigmund Freud University, Austria; Dustin HENZE, Sigmund Freud University, Austria; Florian KNASMÜLLER, Austria; Joëlle LEWITAN, Sigmund Freud University, Austria
Epistemic Authorities on the Backside of Cultures of Ignorance: Genesis and Loss of Speaking Positions in Illegitimate Knowledge Using the Example of the Corona Pandemic
Markus TRIMMEL, University of Vienna, Austria; Michaela PFADENHAUER, University of Vienna, Austria; Katharina MIKO-SCHEFZIG, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria
Social Media Consumption and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories: Lithuania and Finland in Comparative Perspective
Jurate IMBRASAITE, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania; Auksė BALČYTIENĖ, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
Understanding and Criticizing Conspiracy Theory through Counter-Speech
Aletta DIEFENBACH, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
From Conspiracy Theory to Conspiracist Ideology: Rethinking Social Critique in the Conspiracist Zeitgeist
Bojan BAĆA, University of Montenegro, Montenegro
Geoengineering and Climate Skepticism: A Digital Netnography of Conspiracy Narratives in the Italian Facebooksphere
Niccolò SIRLETO, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy
The Curious Transformation of “Critical Race Theory” to “CRT”: The Role of Election Campaigns in American Culture Wars
Penny EDGELL, University of Minnesota, USA; Yagmur KARAKAYA, Yale University, USA
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