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What To Do About Conspiracy Theories? : Academic Entanglements in Conflicts Over Truths

Drazkiewicz, Elzbieta LU orcid and Harambam, Jaron (2024)
Abstract
Increasingly social activists, journalists and policy makers have expressed concern over the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the public space. There is a growing fear of their impact on social cohesion and democracy, their power to erode trust in state institutions and science. These concerns often come with an expectation that it is the responsibility of academics to engage with conspiracy beliefs by countering them. But should they?

In this book, contributors show that like everything that relates to conspiracy theories, even the answer to this question is not straightforward and can vary across disciplines and schools, can be influenced by disciplinary ethical codes of conduct, research methodologies, and specific... (More)
Increasingly social activists, journalists and policy makers have expressed concern over the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the public space. There is a growing fear of their impact on social cohesion and democracy, their power to erode trust in state institutions and science. These concerns often come with an expectation that it is the responsibility of academics to engage with conspiracy beliefs by countering them. But should they?

In this book, contributors show that like everything that relates to conspiracy theories, even the answer to this question is not straightforward and can vary across disciplines and schools, can be influenced by disciplinary ethical codes of conduct, research methodologies, and specific approaches to conspiracy theories. Foregrounding a variety of approaches, from across disciplines (psychology, anthropology, sociology and media studies), academic seniority (from young scholars to full professors), and countries (USA, Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Greece), the chapters in this book are in deep conversation with each other, offering multiple alternative takes on the issue of what should academics do with conspiracy theories. Together, the book embodies several bold and compelling provocations to dealing differently with conspiracy theories.

This timely volume introduces perspectives of scholars representing media studies, anthropology, psychology and sociology and discusses case studies concerning politics, health, environment and security. It will be a key resource for researchers, scholars and practitioners engaged in these fields and will also appeal to anyone interested in conspiracy theories and other related phenomena such as disinformation or fake news. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal for Cultural Research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
editor
LU orcid and Harambam, Jaron
organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Conspiracy Theories, Greek environmentalism, HPV immunisation, debunking conspiracy theories, media and communication studies
pages
136 pages
publisher
Routledge
ISBN
978-1-032-64744-9
978-1-032-64745-6
978-1-032-64746-3
DOI
10.4324/9781032647463
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9be9f112-9f4a-48d6-867b-7e35d49faff9
alternative location
https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/88254
date added to LUP
2024-04-12 08:44:01
date last changed
2024-04-17 03:06:51
@book{9be9f112-9f4a-48d6-867b-7e35d49faff9,
  abstract     = {{Increasingly social activists, journalists and policy makers have expressed concern over the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the public space. There is a growing fear of their impact on social cohesion and democracy, their power to erode trust in state institutions and science. These concerns often come with an expectation that it is the responsibility of academics to engage with conspiracy beliefs by countering them. But should they?<br/><br/>In this book, contributors show that like everything that relates to conspiracy theories, even the answer to this question is not straightforward and can vary across disciplines and schools, can be influenced by disciplinary ethical codes of conduct, research methodologies, and specific approaches to conspiracy theories. Foregrounding a variety of approaches, from across disciplines (psychology, anthropology, sociology and media studies), academic seniority (from young scholars to full professors), and countries (USA, Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Greece), the chapters in this book are in deep conversation with each other, offering multiple alternative takes on the issue of what should academics do with conspiracy theories. Together, the book embodies several bold and compelling provocations to dealing differently with conspiracy theories.<br/><br/>This timely volume introduces perspectives of scholars representing media studies, anthropology, psychology and sociology and discusses case studies concerning politics, health, environment and security. It will be a key resource for researchers, scholars and practitioners engaged in these fields and will also appeal to anyone interested in conspiracy theories and other related phenomena such as disinformation or fake news. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal for Cultural Research.}},
  editor       = {{Drazkiewicz, Elzbieta and Harambam, Jaron}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-032-64744-9}},
  keywords     = {{Conspiracy Theories; Greek environmentalism; HPV immunisation; debunking conspiracy theories; media and communication studies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Book Editor}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{What To Do About Conspiracy Theories? : Academic Entanglements in Conflicts Over Truths}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781032647463}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9781032647463}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}