Editing Conspiracy theory (section)

==Sociology==
In addition to psychological factors such as conspiracist ideation, sociological factors also help account for who believes in which conspiracy theories. Such theories tend to get more traction among election losers in society, for example, and the emphasis on conspiracy theories by elites and leaders tends to increase belief among followers with higher levels of conspiracy thinking.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Uscinski|first1=Joseph E.|author-link1=Joseph Uscinski|title=Conspiring for the Common Good|url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2019/07/conspiring-for-the-common-good/|website=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|publisher=[[Center for Inquiry]]|access-date=9 February 2020|date=2 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402135711/https://skepticalinquirer.org/2019/07/conspiring-for-the-common-good/|archive-date=2 April 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Christopher Hitchens]] described conspiracy theories as the "exhaust fumes of democracy":<ref name="Hodapp 2008"/> the unavoidable result of a large amount of information circulating among a large number of people.

Conspiracy theories may be emotionally satisfying, as they assign blame to a group to which the theorist does not belong and, thus, absolve the theorist of moral or political responsibility in society.<ref>{{cite news|first=Shankar|last=Vedantam|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR2006060400618.html|title=Born With the Desire to Know the Unknown|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A02|date=5 June 2006|access-date=7 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501144444/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR2006060400618.html|archive-date=1 May 2011|url-status=live}} Sociologist Theodore Sasson has remarked, "Conspiracy theories explain disturbing events or social phenomena in terms of the actions of specific, powerful individuals. By providing simple explanations of distressing events—the conspiracy theory in the Arab world, for example, that the [[11 September attacks]] were planned by the Israeli Mossad—they deflect responsibility or keep people from acknowledging that tragic events sometimes happen inexplicably."</ref> Likewise, [[Roger Cohen]] writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'' has said that, "captive minds; ... resort to conspiracy theory because it is the ultimate refuge of the powerless. If you cannot change your own life, it must be that some greater force controls the world."<ref name="Cohen"/>

Sociological historian Holger Herwig found in studying German explanations for the origins of [[World War I]], "Those events that are most important are hardest to understand because they attract the greatest attention from myth makers and charlatans."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Keith|title=Forging the Collective Memory: Government and International Historians through Two World Wars|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-828-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ojipBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|date=1 November 1996}}</ref> [[Justin Fox]] of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine argues that Wall Street traders are among the most conspiracy-minded group of people, and ascribes this to the reality of some financial market conspiracies, and to the ability of conspiracy theories to provide necessary orientation in the market's day-to-day movements.<ref name="business.time.com"/>

===Influence of critical theory===

[[Bruno Latour]] notes that the language and intellectual tactics of [[critical theory]] have been appropriated by those he describes as conspiracy theorists, including [[climate change denial|climate-change denial]]ists and the [[9/11 Truth movement]]: "Maybe I am taking conspiracy theories too seriously, but I am worried to detect, in those mad mixtures of knee-jerk disbelief, punctilious demands for proofs, and free use of powerful explanation from the social neverland, many of the weapons of social critique."<ref name="critiquesteam">{{Citation|last=Latour|first=Bruno|author-link=Bruno Latour|title=Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern.|journal=Critical Inquiry|volume=30|issue=2|pages=225–48|date=Winter 2004|url=http://www.bruno-latour.fr:80/sites/default/files/89-CRITICAL-INQUIRY-GB.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916045752/http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/89-CRITICAL-INQUIRY-GB.pdf|archive-date=16 September 2012|access-date=16 September 2012|doi=10.1086/421123|s2cid=159523434|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Fusion paranoia===
[[Michael Kelly (editor)|Michael Kelly]], a ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' journalist and critic of [[anti-war]] movements on both the left and right, coined the term "fusion paranoia" to refer to a political convergence of left-wing and right-wing activists around anti-war issues and [[civil liberties]], which he said were motivated by a shared belief in conspiracism or shared [[Anti-statism|anti-government]] views.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/06/19/the-road-to-paranoia|title=THE ROAD TO PARANOIA|last=Kelly|first=Michael|date=12 June 1995|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409110230/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/06/19/the-road-to-paranoia|archive-date=9 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Barkun has adopted this term to refer to how the synthesis of paranoid conspiracy theories, which were once limited to American fringe audiences, has given them mass appeal and enabled them to become commonplace in [[mass media]],{{sfn|Barkun|2003|p=230}} thereby inaugurating an unrivaled period of people actively preparing for [[apocalypticism|apocalyptic]] or [[millenarianism|millenarian]] scenarios in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.{{sfn|Barkun|2003|pp=207, 210, 211}} Barkun notes the occurrence of lone-wolf conflicts with law enforcement acting as a proxy for threatening the established political powers.{{sfn|Barkun|2003|pp=193, 197}}