Conclusion: In Defence of Conspiracy Theories

Abstract

We hear conspiracy theories at the breakfast table, at work and in the media. People go around saying ‘I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but …’ trying to persuade you that, say, the oil companies are conspiring to keep cheap, renewable energy sources from entering the marketplace, or health professionals discovered the cure for cancer in the 1960s but have kept it a secret from the public. Sociologists and psychologists study why these beliefs are so popular, and also why some of them are only popular in certain communities. Historians look at these beliefs in their historical context, while political theorists ask whether belief in conspiracy theories adversely affects the political structures in our societies. The literature on belief in conspiracy theories grows ever larger (even though it is quite possibly being outpaced by the generation of new conspiracy theories).