ABSTRACT
Conspiracy theories are everywhere today, and manifest themselves in many different forms. Some scholars therefore speak of a veritable culture of conspiracy or a post-truth era, while others argue instead that conspiracy theories were actually much more mainstream before. To understand this apparent paradox about the cultural meaning of conspiracy theories (either normalized or stigmatized), we need to acknowledge the multiplicity of conspiracy theories: their different meanings for different people in different contexts. This sensitivity is underdeveloped in academia yet central in this book. I then review the history of conspiracy theory research and ideal-typically distinguish between two main approaches: a normative and pathologizing strand of research (stigmatization), and one exploring their meanings without strong moral assumptions (normalization). Ironically, both approaches pay little empirical attention to the actual people engaging with conspiracy theories, which is not productive if we are to understand the presence and popularity of conspiracy theories in contemporary Western societies. Instead, I take a cultural sociological approach, which I specify along three conceptual moves (meaning, diversity, and relationality), and draw on ethnographic fieldwork in the Dutch conspiracy milieu to study the everyday perspectives and practices of people engaging with conspiracy theories in order to better comprehend the characteristics and popularity of contemporary conspiracy culture.
