Conspiracy theory criticism

A conspiracy theory is an explanatory or speculative hypothesis that suggests that two or more persons, a group, or an organization of having caused and/or covered up, through secret planning and deliberate action, an event or situation which is typically taken to be illegal or harmful.

Cover of "Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States" by Samuel F.B. Morse, 1835 edition.

Conspiracy theory criticism

“ A note on terminology: in this essay, "conspiracy theory" and "conspiracy culture" refer to thinking about actual conspiracies; "conspiracy theory criticism" refers to second-level thinking about conspiracy theory. ” — Andrew Strombeck, Whose Conspiracy Theory?

Reading list

• Brotherton, Rob (2015), Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories, Bloomsbury, ISBN 1472915615

• Barkun, Michael (2013), A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (2nd ed.), University of California Press, ISBN 0520276825

• Dean, Jodi (1998), Aliens in America : conspiracy cultures from outerspace to cyberspace, Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, ISBN 0801434637

• Fenster, Mark (1999), Conspiracy Theories : Secrecy and Power in American Culture, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 081663243X

• Knight, Peter (2000), Conspiracy culture : American paranoia from Kennedy to the X-files, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0415189780

• Knight, Peter, ed. (2002), Conspiracy nation : the politics of paranoia in postwar America, New York: New York University Press, ISBN 0814747361

• Melley, Timothy (2000), Empire of Conspiracy : the Culture of Paranoia in Postwar America, Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, ISBN 0801486068

• O'Donnell, Patrick (2000), Latent destinies : cultural paranoia and contemporary U.S. Narrative, Durham: Duke Univ. Press, ISBN 082232587X

Book reviews

• Review of Mark Fenster's Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture by Bart Beatty in Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 24, No 4 (1999)

Resources

• The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (academic blog)
• google:"conspiracist+ideation"
• Unhappy people tend to become conspiracy believers (user essay)