Deprived, Radical, Alternatively Informed

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic was accompanied by a massive increase of the supply and demand for pandemic-related information. Similarly, conspiracy theories about the origins and functions of the Covid-19 virus flourished during the early stages of the pandemic. The present study draws on a nationally representative sample of the German population aged 18+ (N = 1,207) to investigate factors that are associated with people’s susceptibility to believe in such theories. We draw on research from sociology, political science, and communication to predict that factors related to relative deprivation, political radicalism, and the consumption of alternative news on websites, video platforms, Social Network Sites, and messenger services are associated with an increased belief in Covid-19 conspiracy theories. The data largely supports our assumptions. Additionally, we show that the strength of belief in Covid-19 conspiracy theories is associated with reduced vaccination intentions, which suggests detrimental real-world health consequences of such a belief.

Are You Worried About Getting Covid-19 or About Losing Your Job?

“…According to the existential threat model (Van Prooijen, 2019), uncertainty and fears are a precondition for susceptibility to conspiracy theories. In line with this argumentation, several studies found positive relationships between economic threats and belief in pseudoscientific information or conspiracy theories ( Čavojová et al, 2022;Ziegele et al, 2022), information usually spread on alternative media (Boberg et al, 2020). A recent study found that the relationship between perceived or actual poor economic country and the development of conspiracy theories about elites ruling their nation is found across 36 countries (Hornsey et al, 2023).…”

“…Bendau et al (2021) report a positive correlation between health-related fears and vaccination intention, but a negative correlation with the item focusing on economic threats. Ziegele et al (2022) found in their German sample also a negative relationship between economic deprivation and vaccination intentions. We therefore predict: H3: Fears focused on health threats correlate positively with vaccination acceptance.…”

“…Communication plays an important role in this process, and it has been repeatedly shown that the type of media people consume influences preventive behaviours or vaccination intentions. Watching Fox News, for example, reduced the intention to stay at home (Simonov et al, 2020), and using social media was related to lower vaccination intentions (Allington et al, 2021;Ziegele et al, 2022). Using quality media or specifically communication from virologists, in contrast, correlated positively with social distancing (Allington et al, 2021;Jiang et al, 2021;Szczuka et al, 2020;Utz et al, 2022).…”

Does personal relative deprivation mediate the relationship between passive social media use and beliefs in conspiracy theories? Cross‐sectional correlational and experimental evidence

“…At the same time, it is well known that there are important psychological processes underlying people's tendency to believe in conspiracies. The sense of relative deprivation, which is a perception of being socially or financially disadvantaged compared to other people, and in comparison with one's own past situation, is clearly one of them (Bilewicz & Krzemiński, 2010; Hornsey et al., 2023; Ziegele et al., 2022). In this article, we propose that, apart from a direct transmission of conspiracy theories through social media, the extensive passive consumption of such media could increase people's sense of deprivation compared to other people who are presenting their successful narratives through such media.…”

“…In this case, too, the assessment of their past economic situation as better than their current and future one was found to be a significant antecedent of conspiracy beliefs (Hornsey, et al, 2023). Recent studies showed that relative deprivation not only breeds conspiracy theories about COVID‐19 but it also affects people's willingness to vaccinate (Ziegele, et al., 2022), therefore deprivation could be viewed as an important obstacle to public health. Following from these expected effects of personal relative deprivation on conspiracy beliefs and taking into account the role that passive social media use is expected to play in triggering beliefs in conspiracy theories, we formulated the following prediction: …”