Lecture 7 Flashcards
Shock doctrine
make people terrified than they will accept big measures
Contradiction between insiders and outsiders
Ethnographic focus of his research: wanted to know what was going on in their lives-> put own ideas about truth and morality aside-> lived reality-> focus on meaning-> sensitive of diversity of people and theories and engagement-> in science can be very uniform
Conspiracy theories in context-> social-historical context-> not just looking at theories themselves but their interactions with other institutions and people-> why seen as problem - How did his study come about?
inancial crisis: what is true, what is going on-> looking for answers-> didn’t get a lot of answers-> Zeitgeist documentary
Money as debt-> rang true for him-> makes sense-> why this conspiracy theory so appealing
Fascination with X files
Zeitgeist movement-> people started organize around these documentaries-> worldwide network who mistrusted governments around these documentaries
Come together in Amsterdam: huge variety of people-> wanting change, societal transformation
What did he want to know: who are these people? What are their ideas? How did they get into this world? What did they do with these ideas in their daily lives? Relations?
How did he start the research? Reading, watching, ethnographic (assess)-> go gain assess most difficult part especially with group that is marginalized as crazy lunatics-> David Icke gathering: extraordinary claims seem plausible -> looking for people to interview, was hard, very suspicious -> why them, had to convince them with explaining research approach-> building trust -> seen as opportunity eventually
Diversity quickly association with gender, race, etc.-> world views
Very prominent in the US and also present in EU (Cultural Marxism: more conservatives excluded)
Hegemony in diversity: power relations-> conspiracy theories: diversity in experience in reality and science and politics-> hegemony: assuming what the authorities tell us about the world is the reality and the truth and objective: mainstream-> only few people has other thoughts about that truth but they are excluded
Sensitive to diversity
Sociological value-> other ways of thinking are otherwise obscured-> need to be open as a social scientist-> move beyond stereotypes-> analyse how and why these stereotypes work-> seeing how
exclusion are being executed by stereotyping-> interesting to see how these are resisted
Shows how power relations are established and resisted -> in conspiracy culture show different ways of how we see the world -> very dominant stereotypes: militant, tinfoil mad hatter and see smoke beyond every fire-> there is a truth in it but also obscures-> different people
Stereotypes how they are established: don’t understand facts, how to do research etc.-> framed as paranoid who are dangerous-> has an effect of exclusion of critical thoughts under danger and unfalsifiable/ untrue
Resistance
stereotyped and marginalized and stigmatized-> crazy people-> but the theorist aren’t submissive, they resist their stereotyping-> advance narrative as critical free thinkers-> turn irrational people into rational people: others are stupid-> study for ourselves and see for ourselves the truth-> self-identical very present
Paying attention to how people identify themselves-> not just how other frame them but how they identify themselves -> diversity of identification: diversity within conspiracy world-> different groups in terms of thinking and believing truth and living their live
Dominance of loud and militant activists-> mostly seen:
brought to the front because of their aggression-> don’t represent whole group-> a lot of disagreement actually within community-> resistance within the world against the activists
Retreaters (anti vax movement) not loud but be example themselves
Mediators want to bring people together
These two also marginalized and resist the activists
Danger of seeing things in uniform ways be sensitive to diversity-> more precise reality and sensitive to political implication of stereotyping and lumping everything together
Problematization of official knowledge defining for contemporary era
post-truth-> objectivity less important Since 1960s appeal the mainstream audience
Conspiracy theories may have been the domain of dubious actors and communities on the fringes of society, today they are popular, normalized, everyday ways of understanding the world that are tangible in many different manifestations of contemporary culture-> culture of conspiracy
Nuance: has been stable over time, not new-> status and public opinion shifted for legitimate to illegitimate
Conspiracy theories on the one hand for lunatics but on the other hand becoming more mainstream-> stigmatized and normalized at the same time
Need to be sensitive to the multiplicity of conspiracy theories and where they acquire meaning -> meaning different things for different people-> which people find them plausible etc. and what other people find them dangerous
Need to look at outsiders and insiders
Kay tries but fails to understand them from within-> symptom and cause of crisis-> example of how may write about conspiracy
Start with denial whilst also saying they do happen
Reference to pathology
Moral alarmism
Pathologizes and highly normative about conspiracy (stigmatization)
Popper: bad science-> secularization of religious superstition -> remnants of religious pasts
They happen -> reduce highly complex phenomena to simple causes but require complex deception
Crippled epistemology: usual rules for truth and falsification don’t apply -> information against them is constructed in favour of them -> unfalsifiable
Fact and fiction distinction falls away-> forged scientific practices-> parody of science and hard for public to distinguish between them-> Other, modern science
Result of imaginative power-> expression of paranoia
Hofstadter-> no good politics
Paranoia and political paranoia not same yet go together/ reinforce
Epidemics of hysteria
Clinical understanding of paranoia
Paranoia as social psychology-> dubious and decreasing prevalence-> still widespread
Delusional allegations of paranoid and extremist minds -> enforce normative definition of political belief and practice: Other, good politics
Societal danger-> threat to health body politic
Indebted to history (Hitler, etc.)-> oppressive regimes, militant groups -> these groups believe in conspiracies
The proliferation and popularity of conspiracy theories are serious political and cultural threats for they fuel an extreme polarization which is unlikely to be resolved by deliberation only
Pathological other: opposite modern science-> Questionable how delusional and paranoid belief in conspiracy theories is-> some turned out to be true-> differentiate between false theories and truth undetermined -> danger of them, moral considerations: scientists must not define that -> hard to set them apart in this day and age
Who gets to define, problematize and subjugate them and why
This way of looking at them doesn’t help to understand them-> look at meaning not right or wrong
Neutral and explores their meanings (normalization)
Discovering meaning-> understand them and their cultural significance
Necessary and sometimes creative response to changing conditions -> appropriate for political contestation (tactical, productive)
a broad cultural attempt to grapple with the complexities, anxieties and inequalities induced by large scale social developments and the autonomous workings of opaque systems
Defence strategy -> coping mechanism to deal with complex and uncertain world Ignore diversity
Culture in own right-> Dutch-> understand them
Conspiracy culture as structural
Ethnographic approach -> emerge in milieu-> interpretative, understanding
How do people find minding in an essentially meaningless world
Diversity of conspiracy culture : variety of discourses, epistemologies, biographies, practices and people - Mostly studies in isolation-> full relational terms necessary
Meaning, diversity and relationality
Self-identity is constructed in broader network of social relations: interdependencies -> identify ourselves like we think other look at us
Three important elements:
Identity is not static or essential-> dynamic never ending process of identification with various meaningful others -> conspiracy theorists search for truth in relation to others
Identity formation is shaped through inclusion and exclusion
Issue of power: identity formation subject to structures in which they emerge -> political-> not undisputed
Critical thinkers, not like sheep who follow-> cultural ideals of autonomy and rebellion-> emancipatory
See themselves as free and critical thinkers-> yet differentiate from delusional conspiracy thinker
Self-identification differentiate from dormant masses and real conspiracy theorist-> dividing line:
disagreements
Critical thinking necessary but not sufficient-> activists: in different ways-> sub-politics
Activists in the conspiracy milieu exemplify sub-politics in that they actively try to reform the system through public interventions and by establishing alternative political parties
Radial tone seen as not effective-> adverse effect aggressive attitude generates-> need different method-> not one of a kind conspiracy people: different in beliefs
Retreaters: change world by changing oneself-> change not by convincing others-> radiation, vibration and love to spread message of self-development
Mediators: mediate between hardcore conspiracy buffs and regular public (activism serves own public)-> positive-> build bridges between confusing conspiracy and the people -> can feel stuck in between establishment and people
Mediators
Mediators, in short, debunk activists as unproductive fundamentalists and critique retreaters for being too involved with personal growth
Changing the world is primarily done by building bridges between the alternative and the mainstream, between different perceptions of truth, and between multiple perspectives on reality
Cultural pluralism: mediators acknowledge that different outlooks on the world are fundamental to contemporary society and, from this postmodern position, act more as interpreters of different cultural perspectives than as legislators of one master narrative or truth - Opposite epistemological positions:
Activists: belief in absolute truth-> solid proofs and hard facts
Retreaters: feeling what is right and emphasize inner knowing to assess veracity of knowledge claims-> discard facts-> inner change and personal growth -> subjective truth
Mediator: against absolute truth-> truth ever changing-> reality from different perspectives-> truth multiple-> situated truth of multiple actors-> not absolute, not subjective but product certain position in time and space
The conspiracy milieu can be seen as a fluid network of different groups of people, identifying with distinctly different worldviews, beliefs, values, and practices
Heterogeneity
Critical freethinkers-> differentiate from ‘real’ conspiracy theorists, who are paranoid
