POLITICS AND CONSPIRACY

In 1964, historian Richard Hofstadter described the “paranoid style” as an enduring and endemic feature of U.S. politics. Characterized by “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy,” the paranoid view of the world that Hofstadter identified has only intensified in subsequent decades. While the subjects of paranoid conspiracies have varied over time, the speed and scope of conspiratorial politics has grown exponentially, largely because of the Internet. In this course we will put the emergence of conspiracy theories in historical context, examine the commonalities between conspiracy theories, and analyze both the reasons for and the effects of widespread conspiratorial beliefs. Rather than treating conspiracies as far-fetched fantasies pedaled to the ignorant, we will engage conspiracy theory as communicating something profound about our notions of reason, decision-making, and democracy.