Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

Disentangling Critiques of Inequality and Conspiratorial Beliefs

Abstract

This article builds on recent agnostic and ethnographic approaches to conspiracy theories in an attempt, first, to think through their relation not only to mis-, dis-, and malinformation but also to social inequality, and, second, to establish conspiracy theories as a potentially valuable form of social critique in pluralist democracies. I outline three ways in which conspiracy theorising can be of value to the production of knowledge, to participation in society, and to research in the social sciences and humanities. These can aid in understanding and addressing inequalities, because they unpack conspiracy theories as not only a cause but also a symptom of power inequality, and can even be seen as a form of resistance to inequality.