Conspiracy theories have a long history, and exist in all modern societies. However, their visibility and significance are increasing today. Conspiracy theories can no longer be simply dismissed as the product of a pathological mind-set located on the political margins.
This series provides a nuanced and scholarly approach to this most contentious of subjects. It draws on a range of disciplinary perspectives including political science, sociology, history, media and cultural studies, area studies and behavioural sciences. Issues covered include the psychology of conspiracy theories, changes in conspiratorial thinking over time, the role of the Internet, regional and political variations and the social and political impact of conspiracy theories.
The series will include edited collections, single-authored monographs and short-form books.
By Eirikur Bergmann
August 01, 2024
This book analyses the discursive weaponization of conspiracy theories. In an era where truth and fiction converge, nativist populist leaders wield conspiracy theories as political weapons. This text examines the interplay between populism and conspiracism, probing their impact on democratic ...
Edited
By Michael Butter, Katerina Hatzikidi, Constanze Jeitler, Giacomo Loperfido, Lili Turza
July 04, 2024
This book explores the close connections between populism and conspiracy theory. Populism and Conspiracy Theory contributes to filling the gap in the research in this area. The individual contributions in Part I provide in-depth analyses of specific configurations of populism and conspiracy theory....
Edited
By Francesco Piraino, Marco Pasi, Egil Asprem
May 27, 2024
Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories contributes to the study of conspiracy culture by analysing the religious and esoteric dimensions of conspiracy theories. The book examines both historical and contemporary examples to explore transnational and transhistorical continuities between ...
Edited
By Frida Beckman, Jeffrey R. Di Leo
September 08, 2023
Theory Conspiracy provides a state-of-the-art collection that takes stage on the meeting and/or battlegrounds between conspiracy theory and theory-asconspiracy. By deliberately scrambling the syntax—conspiracy theory cum theory conspiracy—it seeks to open a set of reflections on the articulation ...
Edited
By Ben Carver, Dana Craciun, Todor Hristov
May 31, 2023
This edited collection contributes to the study of conspiracy culture by analysing the relationship of literary forms to the formation, reception, and transformation of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories are narratives, and their narrative form provides the structure within which their ‘...
Edited
By Michael Butter, Peter Knight
February 07, 2023
Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective examines how conspiracy theories and related forms of misinformation and disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic have circulated widely around the world.Covid conspiracy theories have attracted considerable attention from researchers, journalists, ...
By Ron Hirschbein, Amin Asfari
January 18, 2023
Jews and Muslims in the White Supremacist Conspiratorial Imagination explores how Jews and Muslims are stigmatized and endangered by the same conspiratorial template. Supremacists imagine that Jews and Muslims secretly strive to replace white, European civilization with an unspeakable tyranny. The ...
By Ilya Yablokov, Precious N Chatterje-Doody
January 09, 2023
The Russian international media outlet Russia Today (RT) has been widely accused in the Western world of producing government propaganda and conspiracy theories. This book explores for the first time the role that conspiracy theories actually play in the network’s broadcasts. More than this, it ...
By Clare Birchall, Peter Knight
November 04, 2022
Conspiracy Theories in the Time of Covid-19 provides a wide-ranging analysis of the emergence and development of conspiracy theories during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a focus on the US and the UK. The book combines digital methods analysis of large datasets assembled from social media with ...
By Anastasiya Astapova, Eirikur Bergmann, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Annika Rabo, Kasper Grotle Rasmussen, Hulda Thórisdóttir, Andreas Önnerfors
August 01, 2022
This book explores the relevance of conspiracy theories in the modern social and political history of the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries have traditionally imagined themselves as stable, wealthy, egalitarian welfare states. Conspiracy theories, mistrust and disunity, the argument goes, ...
By Mari-Liis Madisson, Andreas Ventsel
May 06, 2022
Strategic Conspiracy Narratives proposes an innovative semiotic perspective for analysing how contemporary conspiracy theories are used for shaping interpretation paths and identities of a targeted audience. Conspiracy theories play a significant role in the viral spread of misinformation that has ...
By Gonzalo Soltero
April 29, 2022
This book examines four conspiracy narratives from Mexico that push the boundaries of conspiracy research in a new direction. They include narratives about Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to Mexico City, shortly before he apparently assassinated JFK, and street gangs across borders and how some of our ...