Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories. Edited by Michael Butter and Peter Knight

Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories provides a comprehensive overview of conspiracy theories as an important social, cultural and political phenomenon in contemporary life.

This handbook provides the most complete analysis of the phenomenon to date. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It maps out the key debates, and includes chapters on the historical origins of conspiracy theories, as well as their political significance in a broad range of countries and regions. Other chapters consider the psychology and the sociology of conspiracy beliefs, in addition to their changing cultural forms, functions and modes of transmission. This handbook examines where conspiracy theories come from, who believes in them and what their consequences are.

This book presents an important resource for students and scholars from a range of disciplines interested in the societal and political impact of conspiracy theories, including Area Studies, Anthropology, History, Media and Cultural Studies, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology.

Published February 26, 2020 by Routledge

680 Pages – 17 B/W Illustrations

https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Conspiracy-Theories-1st-Edition/Butter-Knight/p/book/9780815361749

Table of Contents

Part I
Definitions and approaches
Introduction
Todor Hristov, Andrew McKenzie-McHarg and Alejandro Romero Reche
1. Conceptual history and conspiracy theory
Andrew McKenzie-McHarg
2. Conspiracy theory in historical, cultural and literary studies
Peter Knight and Michael Butter
3. Semiotic Approaches to Conspiracy Theories
Massimo Leone, Mari-Liis Madison and Andreas Ventsel
4. Philosophy and conspiracy theories
Juha Räikkä
 and Juho Ritola
5. Psychoanalysis, critical theory and conspiracy theory
Nebojša Blanuša and Todor Hristov
6. Conspiracy theory as occult cosmology in anthropology
Annika Rabo
7. Sociology, social theory and conspiracy theory
Türkay Salim Nefes and Alejandro Romero Reche
8. Conspiracy theories in political science and political theory
Julien Giry and Pranvera Tika
9. Social psychology of conspiracy theory
Olivier Klein and Kenzo Nera
10. Social network analysis, social big data and conspiracy theories
Estrella Gualda Caballero

Part II
Psychological factors
Introduction
Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Karen Douglas, Aleksandra Cichocka and Michał Bilewicz
1. Personality traits, cognitive styles and worldviews associated with beliefs in conspiracy theories
Anthony Lantian, Michael Wood and Biljana Gjoneska
2. Social-cognitive processes underlying belief in conspiracy theories
Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Olivier Klein and Jasna Milošević Đorđevićz
3. Motivations, emotions and belief in conspiracy theories
Karen M. Douglas, Aleksandra Cichocka and Robbie M. Sutton
4. Conspiracy theories as psycho-political reactions to perceived power
Roland Imhoff and Pia Lamberty
5. How conspiracy theories spread
Adrian Bangerter, Pascal Wagner-Egger and Sylvain Delouvée
6. Conspiracy theories and intergroup relations
Mikey Biddlestone, Aleksandra Cichocka, Iris Žeželj and Michał Bilewicz
7. Consequences of conspiracy theories
Daniel Jolley, Silvia Mari and Karen Douglas
8. Countering conspiracy theories and misinformation
Péter Krekó

Part III
Society and politics
Introduction
Eiríkur Bergmann, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Jaron Harambam and Hulda Thórisdóttir
1. Who are the conspiracy theorists? Demographics and conspiracy theories
Steven M. Smallpage, Hugo Drochon, Joseph E. Uscinski and Casey Klofstad
2. Conspiracy theory entrepreneurs, movements and individuals
Jaron Harambam
3. Conspiracy theories and gender and sexuality
Annika Thiem
4. Conspiracy theories, political ideology and political behaviour
Hulda Thórisdóttir, Silvia Mari and André Krouwel
5. Functions and uses of conspiracy theories in authoritarian regimes
Julien Giry and Doğan Gürpınar
6. Conspiracy theory and populism
Eiríkur Bergman and Michael Butter
7. Radicalisation and conspiracy theories
Benjamin Lee
8. Antisemitism and conspiracism
Kjetil Braut Simonsen
9. Conspiracy theory and religion
Asbjørn Dyrendal

Part IV
Media and transmission
Introduction
Stef Aupers, Dana Crăciun and Andreas Önnerfors
1. Rumours, urban legends and the verbal transmission of conspiracy theories
Anastasiya Astapova
2. Conspiracy theorising and the history of media in the eighteenth century
Andrew McKenzie-McHarg and Claus Oberhauser
3. Genres of conspiracy in nineteenth-century British writing
Ben Carver
4. Conspiracy in American narrative
Timothy Melley
5. Conspiracy theories and visual culture
Ute Caumanns and Andreas Önnerfors
6. Conspiracy theories in film and television shows
Michael Butter
7. Decoding mass media / encoding conspiracy theory
Stef Aupers
8. The Internet and the spread of conspiracy content
Simona Stano
9. Networked disinformation and the lifecycle of online conspiracy theories
Hugo Leal
10. Conspiracy theories and fake news
Kiril Avramov, Vasily Gatov and Ilya Yablokov

Part V
Histories and regions
Introduction
Ilya Yablokov, Pascal Girard, Nebojša Blanuša and Annika Rabo
1. Conspiracy theories in the Roman empire
Victoria Emma Pagán
2. Conspiracy theories in the Middle Ages and the early modern period
Cornel Zwierlein
3. Freemasons, Illuminati and Jews: Conspiracy theories and the French Revolution
Claus Oberhauser
4. Conspiracy Theories in Europe during the twentieth century
Pascal Girard
5. Conspiracy theories in Putin’s Russia: the case of the ‘New World Order’
Ilya Yablokov
6. Conspiracy theories in and about the Balkans
Nebojša Blanuša
7. Conspiracy theories in Turkey
Doğan Gürpınar and Türkay Salim Nefes
8. Conspiracy theories in the Middle East
Matthew Gray
9. Conspiracy theories in Southeast Asia
Viren Swami, Hanoor Syahirah Zahari and David Barron
10. Conspiracy theories in American history
Michael Butter
11. Populism and conspiracy theory in Latin America: a case study of Venezuela
Rosanne Norris Hooper

Editor(s)

Biography

Michael Butter is professor of American Studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He is the author of Plots, Designs, and Schemes: American Conspiracy Theories from the Puritans to the Present (2014) and The Nature of Conspiracy Theories (2020).

Peter Knight is professor of American Studies at the University of Manchester, UK. He is the author of Conspiracy Culture (2000), The Kennedy Assassination (2007) and Reading the Market (2016) and editor of Conspiracy Nation (2002) and Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia (2004).

Together they directed the COST Action COMPACT [Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories].