The corona year of 2020 was the year of conspiracy theories. Through the Internet, they spread and mutate faster than the virus itself. Is Covid-19 a biological weapon developed in a laboratory in Wuhan? And what is the role of 5G masts, Bill Gates or George Soros in the spread of the virus? Or is the virus a hoax - fabricated by the government to suppress the people or prepare them for a new world order? In the question lies the answer..
Of course, we can't ignore QAnon: the much-discussed Internet movement that manifested itself offline as a social movement over the past year - in the United States, but also in a number of European countries. Supporters assume that Democrats in the US are Satanists, pedophiles and/or vampire-like creatures who drink the blood of innocent children to live longer or even become immortal.
Conspiracy theories also play a role in politics. From Thierry Baudet to Jair Bolsonaro to Donald Trump with his theories about the deep state or the "stolen election". Conspiracy theories are used by political leaders to mobilize the electorate. We saw the consequences on January 6, 2021: fueled by Trump's conspiracy theories and insinuations, angry American citizens stormed the parliament building in Washington. Conspiracy theorists in the holy of holies of democracy. For a brief moment, they sat in the vice president's seat. And for a brief moment, a QAnon flag was waving on the Capitol.
Such developments fuel the moral panic about conspiracy theorists and their theories. Conspiracy theories are seen as dangerous and, indeed, as a threat to Western democracy and its institutions.
That image is problematic. In many ways, conspiracy theorists actually embody the democratic ideal of the 1960s and 1970s: they are often empowered, concerned, critical, politically engaged citizens who speak out about politics, science, media and, most importantly, power.
Conspiracy theories form a critical portrayal of established power
This brings me to my central thesis about what is the sociological essence of conspiracy theories and how we should understand their growth: conspiracy theories represent a critique of established power. More precisely, conspiracy theories form a critical portrayal of that power. Every conspiracy theory starts with three critical questions:
- Who has the power?
- Where is that power situated?
- What bad consequences does that power have for society?
From that starting point, the imagination is limitless and theorizing about institutions and elites can begin. For example, in homemade YouTube videos where anything can mean a symbol of power: conspiracy theorists analyze media texts and point to hidden signs, symbols and rituals. Donald Trump's red tie may contain a message. A performance by Katy Perry at the Grammy Awards is not just entertainment - it is a ritual by or for the Illuminati who control the music industry. And Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have scales - they appear to be shape-shifting aliens, collectively striving for a new world order.
Conspiracy thinking takes on mythological forms here. We used to see the invisible hand of powerful gods and spirits in nature - now we project that imagination onto our social institutions and political leaders. How can this mythological imagination of power now be explained sociologically? Social-psychological research shows that conspiracy theorists, more than non-complot theorists, give meaning to the world through imagination. The explanatory factor is uncertainty. Experiments consistently show that uncertainty motivates people to look for meaningful patterns in chaos, to fill in missing information (filling in the gaps) and to make connections between imaginary dots to complete a picture (connecting the dots).
Psychologists explain all sorts of things with the given of uncertainty: from belief in god, paranormal phenomena to pareidolia: people see animals in the clouds, demons in the trees, the face of Jesus in a bowl of soup and the face of Satan in the dust clouds of collapsing WTC towers. But personally, I find that an unsatisfactory explanation. Too universal. For why, then, in Western societies, is this imagination increasingly focused on social institutions?
A historical-sociological answer then: in recent decades - or even centuries - administrative power in Western societies has become increasingly abstract, distant and invisible. The classical sociologist Max Weber already wrote about the transition in modern societies to rational-legal authority: power, in such forms of administration, no longer has a human face, but is legitimized solely by anonymous rules and procedures. People disappear behind rules - become just cogs in the system.
And in that bureaucratic system, who is still responsible for political policy? Another factor is the globalization of power: who understands, in detail, the intertwining of national and European politics and the influence of global powers like the United States, Russia and China on local politics? Where in this borderless world are the identifiable nodes of power? All room for conspiracy theories about a New World Order.
Conspiracy theorists are invariably dismissed as irrational, pathological and a danger to democracy
This is the explanation why conspiracy thinking is so widespread and diverse. The state has become a projection screen. And everyone sees a different film. "I spy something with my little eye". The populist right imagines a conspiracy by climate scientists or cultural Marxists, the populist left by bankers and multinationals, Christians see malevolent Satanists working toward a new world order, concerned mothers fear a network of pedophiles, science fiction lovers like to think of our leaders as shape-shifting aliens.
That last example is illustrative. The imagination of power is a symptom of alienation. Political leaders, it turns out, have literally become aliens to many people. Conspiracy theorists are invariably dismissed as irrational, pathological and a danger to democracy. Of course we like to maintain this distinction. If only to convince ourselves that we are normal and right-thinking. But how sharp is that distinction?
The corona crisis has shown that conspiracy thinking cuts across different layers, classes and segments of society - it is also that highly educated colleague at work, your friendly neighbor or a family member. The conspiracy thinker is not the Other. Also, ask yourself this question: do I even know who has the power? Where it is situated? What is really going on on the world stage? Who is really responsible in the end? I'll be honest: I can't always answer that for myself. Power in a global world has become invisible to everyone.
'Nothing is as it seems', everything is connected, and the truth is out there. In the depths of our minds we are all conspiracy theorists...