Chapter 13 Further Reading: Conspiracy Theories

Foundational Texts

1. Sunstein, Cass R., and Adrian Vermeule. "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures." Journal of Political Philosophy 17, no. 2 (2009): 202–227.

The foundational academic treatment of conspiracy theories in the political science and legal literature. Sunstein and Vermeule provide the most widely cited scholarly definition ("an effort to explain some event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role") and analyze why conspiracy theories are resistant to correction. The paper's controversial policy prescriptions — particularly the proposal for government "cognitive infiltration" of conspiracy groups — generated significant debate and are important to engage critically. Essential reading for understanding the field's definitional debates.

2. Barkun, Michael. A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

The definitive sociological and cultural analysis of conspiracy theories in American life. Barkun develops the three-tier typology (event, systemic, superconspiracy) that remains the standard classificatory framework. He traces the historical development of conspiracist subcultures and their integration with millennial religious movements. Particularly valuable for its analysis of how separate conspiracy theories are aggregated into superconspiracy frameworks. The chapters on the relationship between conspiracism and apocalypticism are especially illuminating for understanding QAnon.

3. Brotherton, Rob. Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories. New York: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015.

An accessible but rigorous psychological introduction to conspiracy belief, written for a general audience without sacrificing scholarly substance. Brotherton synthesizes research on cognitive biases (proportionality bias, pattern detection, agency detection) with social psychological accounts of motivated reasoning. The book's treatment of the monological structure of conspiracy belief and its discussion of historical and cross-cultural patterns are particularly valuable. The best single-volume introduction to the psychology of conspiratorial thinking.

4. Douglas, Karen M., Robbie M. Sutton, and Aleksandra Cichocka. "The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories." Current Directions in Psychological Science 26, no. 6 (2017): 538–542.

The clearest and most concise presentation of the three-motive framework (epistemic, existential, social) that dominates current psychological research on conspiracy belief. Although brief, this paper synthesizes a substantial body of experimental research and is the appropriate starting point for the psychological literature. Should be read alongside the more comprehensive Douglas et al. (2019) review in Annual Review of Political Science.

5. Douglas, Karen M., et al. "Understanding Conspiracy Theories." Advances in Political Psychology 40, S1 (2019): 3–35.

The comprehensive systematic review of conspiracy belief research, covering definitional debates, psychological mechanisms, sociological conditions, consequences of belief, and interventions. This is the essential overview of the field's current state and is appropriate for students who want more depth than the 2017 short paper provides. The sections on consequences of conspiracy belief — for political behavior, health decisions, and social trust — are particularly important.

6. Lewandowsky, Stephan, Ullrich K. H. Ecker, John Cook, et al. The Debunking Handbook 2020. Available at: https://skepticalscience.com/debunking-handbook.html

The most practically important document in the field of misinformation correction. The 2020 edition substantially updates the original 2011 handbook, integrating a decade of new research. Covers the backfire effect (and its subsequent partial debunking), the illusory truth effect, the gap theory of correction, inoculation theory, and practical recommendations for different communication contexts. Available freely online. Required reading for anyone working in health communication, media literacy, journalism, or public affairs.

7. Hofstadter, Richard. "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." Harper's Magazine, November 1964. Reprinted in The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays. New York: Knopf, 1965.

The classic historical and rhetorical analysis of conspiratorial thinking in American politics. Hofstadter traces the "paranoid style" — characterized by heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy — across American history from anti-Masonic movements through McCarthyism. The essay is essential context for understanding American conspiracy culture and has generated substantial critical debate about whether it pathologizes legitimate political dissent. Read alongside critiques by Michael Rogin and Alan Brinkley for a complete view.

Psychology and Cognition

8. van Prooijen, Jan-Willem, and Mark van Vugt. "Conspiracy Theories: Evolved Functions and Psychological Mechanisms." Perspectives on Psychological Science 13, no. 6 (2018): 770–788.

An evolutionary psychology analysis of conspiracy belief that situates the phenomenon within a broader framework of evolved threat-detection mechanisms. Van Prooijen and van Vugt argue that the hyperactive agency detection and pattern recognition tendencies underlying conspiracy belief may be adaptations that were beneficial in ancestral environments, where failing to detect genuine threats was more costly than false positives. The paper provides a compelling evolutionary account of why conspiracy thinking is so widespread across cultures and populations.

9. Lewandowsky, Stephan, Klaus Oberauer, and Gilles Gignac. "NASA Faked the Moon Landing — Therefore (Climate) Science Is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science." Psychological Science 24, no. 5 (2013): 622–633.

The paper that introduced the concept of monological belief systems to the conspiracy belief literature. Lewandowsky et al. found that belief in one conspiracy theory predicted belief in other, unrelated — and sometimes mutually contradictory — conspiracy theories, and that conspiracy belief predicted rejection of scientific consensus on climate change, vaccines, and other topics. This finding has been highly influential in understanding the epistemic structure of conspiracy belief.

10. van der Linden, Sander, Anthony Leiserowitz, Seth Rosenthal, and Edward Maibach. "Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change." Global Challenges 1, no. 2 (2017): 1600008.

The paper that launched modern inoculation research on misinformation. Van der Linden et al. demonstrate that exposing participants to a weakened form of climate change misinformation, combined with explicit warning and refutation, can protect against subsequent misinformation exposure. The paper initiated a research program that has since extended to vaccines, COVID-19, and conspiracy theories more broadly, and has generated the Bad News game and prebunking campaign research.

Digital and Sociological Dimensions

11. Ribeiro, Manoel Horta, Raphael Ottoni, Robert West, Virgílio A. F. Almeida, and Wagner Meira Jr. "Auditing Radicalization Pathways on YouTube." Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (2020): 131–141.

The most rigorous empirical study of the YouTube rabbit hole effect, documenting user migration patterns from mainstream to fringe content through algorithmic recommendation. Ribeiro et al. use large-scale analysis of YouTube viewing histories to demonstrate that recommendation pathways systematically move users toward more extreme content. Essential reading for understanding how platform design enables conspiracy radicalization.

12. Starbird, Kate. "Examining the Alternative Media Ecosystem through the Production of Alternative Narratives of Mass Shooting Events on Twitter." Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media 11, no. 1 (2017).

A foundational network analysis study documenting the structure and function of alternative narrative communities on Twitter. Starbird maps the dense, internally connected networks through which conspiracy theories about mass shooting events circulate, identifies the "alternative media ecosystem" that produces and distributes this content, and analyzes the role of bridge nodes in connecting fringe communities to mainstream audiences. Essential methodology for understanding conspiracy theory network structure.

13. Rosenblum, Nancy L., and Russell Muirhead. A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019.

An important political theory analysis distinguishing "old" conspiracy theories (which offered elaborate evidence and argument for their claims) from "new conspiracism" (which is characterized by assertion without argument — "a lot of people are saying"). Rosenblum and Muirhead argue that this new conspiracism represents a distinctive threat to democratic epistemics because it does not engage with evidence at all. The book is valuable for understanding the political implications of conspiracy theory culture and for analyzing figures like Trump whose conspiratorial assertions follow the new conspiracist pattern.

14. Uscinski, Joseph E., and Joseph M. Parent. American Conspiracy Theories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

A systematic empirical study of conspiracy theory prevalence and predictors in American public opinion, based on original survey data and content analysis of conspiracy theories over a century. Uscinski and Parent find that conspiracy belief is associated with political extremism (both left and right), economic insecurity, and distrust in institutions, and that it has been relatively stable over time despite media narratives about a conspiracy crisis. Essential for correcting misconceptions about conspiracy belief's prevalence and distribution.

15. Rothschild, Mike. The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything. Brooklyn: Melville House, 2021.

The most comprehensive single-volume account of QAnon's origins, evolution, and impact. Rothschild traces QAnon from its 4chan origins through its mainstreaming, its role in the Capitol insurrection, and its deplatforming, providing both narrative detail and analytical framework. Essential for case study work on QAnon and for understanding how modern superconspiracy theories evolve through digital ecosystems.