ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a working definition of conspiracy theory, outlines the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the book (sociology of knowledge, Foucauldian discourse analysis, historicized close readings), and situates it in the thriving field of conspiracy theory research. Engaging in the major scholarly debates about conspiracy theory – how prominent and prevalent are conspiracy theories today? – the Introduction presents the two major goals of this book: first, to show that the status of conspiracy theory shifted in the mid-20th century from legitimate to illegitimate knowledge through an emerging, initially largely academic, discourse; and second, to investigate how the stigmatization of conspiracy theory has affected the form, structure, and production of conspiracy theories as well as the identities of those who continue to believe in them.
