On Political Conspiracy Theories*

Räikkä, Juha

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00300.x

Cited by 38 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The presence of unwarranted conspiracy theories taints the class of conspiracy theories in general, and thus our suspicion of conspiracy theories is justified because of the cost of belief in unwarranted conspiracy theories (which will be discussed in more depth in Chapter 6). Juha Räikkä, in 'On Political Conspiracy Theories', makes use of Keeley's argument for a skepticism of conspiracy theories in general to illustrate the distinction between political conspiracy theories and what he calls 'total conspiracy theories', like the claim that the Illuminati control the world from behind the scenes (Räikkä, 2009b). As Räikkä explains in another work, 'The Ethics of Conspiracy Theorizing', there is a difference between what we construe political conspiracy theorists as doing -'offer[ing] conspiracy theories to explain social events by referring to genuine political conspiracies whose existence is not widely known or presumed' (Räikkä, 2009a, p. 458) -and the problematic class of conspiracy theories, his 'total conspiracy theories'.…”

Section: The Consequences Of Belief In Conspiracy Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories

Dentith¹

2014

104

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Section: The Consequences Of Belief In Conspiracy Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories

Dentith¹

2014

104

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“…On the one hand, some scholars believe that conspiracy theories should be viewed as cultural practices that afford citizens opportunities to address the credibility of governance (Sasson, 1995 ; Fenster, 1999 ; Hellinger, 2003 ) or as attempts by lay individuals to create “naïve deconstructionist history” (Rudmin, 2003 ). On the other hand, because the critique of power offered by conspiracy theories is often simplistic, they are susceptible to racist and exclusionary narratives, which in turn create discord and public mistrust (Fenster, 1999 ; Miller, 2002 ; Räikkä, 2008 ).…”

Section: Social Psychological Origins Of Conspiracy Theories: the Casmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Psychological Origins of Conspiracy Theories: The Case of the Jewish Conspiracy Theory in Malaysia

Swami¹

2012

Front. Psychology

234

208

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Two studies examined correlates of belief in a Jewish conspiracy theory among Malays in Malaysia, a culture in which state-directed conspiracism as a means of dealing with perceived external and internal threats is widespread. In Study 1, 368 participants from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, completed a novel measure of belief in a Jewish conspiracy theory, along with measures of general conspiracist ideation, and anomie. Initial analysis showed that the novel scale factorially reduced to a single dimension. Further analysis showed that belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory was only significantly associated with general conspiracist ideation, but the strength of the association was weak. In Study 2, 314 participants completed the measure of belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory, along with measures of general conspiracist ideation, and ideological attitudes. Results showed that belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory was associated with anti-Israeli attitudes, modern racism directed at the Chinese, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation. General conspiracist ideation did not emerge as a significant predictor once other variables had been accounted for. These results suggest that there may be specific cultural and social psychological forces that drive belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory within the Malaysian context. Specifically, belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory among Malaysian Malays appears to serve ideological needs and as a mask for anti-Chinese sentiment, which may in turn reaffirm their perceived ability to shape socio-political processes.

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“…Email: alimashuri76@ub.ac.id conspiracy theory generates a host of negative intergroup attitudes and behaviours against suspected actors of a conspiracy. These behaviours and attitudes include racism and group exclusion (Miller, 2002;Räikkä, 2008), discrimination (Bilewizs & Krzemiński, 2010), and social riots (van Prooijen, 2012;van Prooijen & Jostman, 2013). Other studies have also provided evidence that belief in a conspiracy theory reflects people's distrust towards external agents, more particularly the agents considered as powerful (Goertzel, 1994;Parsons, Simmons, Shinhoster, & Kilburn, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

We believe in your conspiracy if we distrust you: the role of intergroup distrust in structuring the effect of Islamic identification, competitive victimhood, and group incompatibility on belief in a conspiracy theory

Mashuri

Zaduqisti

2014

Journal of Tropical Psychology

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Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1838990214000118How to cite this article: Ali Mashuri and Esti Zaduqisti (2014). We believe in your conspiracy if we distrust you: the role of intergroup distrust in structuring the effect of Islamic identication, competitive victimhood, and group incompatibility on belief in a conspiracy This study examined how distrust towards an out-group believed to be an actor of a conspiracy theory moderates the role of Islamic identification, group incompatibility and competitive victimhood in explaining belief in said conspiracy. The contextual background we used to verify this idea is the belief in a conspiracy theory among Indonesian Muslims about the involvement of Western countries behind terrorism in Indonesia. More precisely, we found only among Muslim participants with high distrust towards Western people that Islamic identification and group incompatibility positively predicted the perception that Muslims, more than other religious groups, are the victim of the Western people and the belief in a theory that these people have conspired to create terrorism in Indonesia. We also hypothesized and found that competitive victimhood significantly mediated the effects of Islamic identification and group incompatibility on the belief in a conspiracy theory. However, in line with the prediction, these mediation roles of victimhood were obtained only among participants with high distrust. We discussed these findings with reference to theoretical and practical implications.

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On Political Conspiracy Theories*

Cited by 38 publications

References 10 publications

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories

Social Psychological Origins of Conspiracy Theories: The Case of the Jewish Conspiracy Theory in Malaysia

We believe in your conspiracy if we distrust you: the role of intergroup distrust in structuring the effect of Islamic identification, competitive victimhood, and group incompatibility on belief in a conspiracy theory

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