An anthropological study of conspiracy theories from marginalized standpoints

Introduction

Conspiracy theories acquire a particular significance when they are voiced by social actors who are socioeconomically disadvantaged and/or subjected to processes of dispossession. De-CRIPT will introduce theoretical and methodological innovations into conspiracy-theory studies to expand current understandings of the nexus between conspiracy theories and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Project Objectives

Comparing four paradigmatic communities subject to longstanding or newly-emerging processes of marginalization across four different countries of Western Europe, the project seeks to understand:

• The conflictual dimension of conspiracy theories in the online sphere and in everyday offline interactions.
• The conditions that make conspiracy theories acceptable or appealing among disadvantaged groups.
• Connections and disconnections between the communicative intentions of online conspiracy propagators, on the one side, and the pragmatic uses of conspiracy theories by ordinary social actors in everyday life, on the other.

Theoretical Framework

Theoretically, De-CRIPT will introduce into conspiracy-theory research:

1. The philosophical tradition of pragmatism (with its linguistic and sociological legacies) in order to focus on social actors’ pragmatic uses of conspiracy theories to justify their practices and/or produce specific effects.
2. A feminist epistemological lens, which examines processes of knowledge production and circulation by paying attention to different forms of oppression, in order to expand current understandings of the conditions of acceptability of conspiracy theories among low-status groups.

Methodological Approach

Methodologically, it will be the first comparative study whose empirical focus will encompass both conspiracy narratives and the narratives opposing them, across both digital and non-digital environments, by combining critical discourse analysis of online sources and feminist ethnography.