000			02058cam a2200157 4500500
005			20250119123954.0
041			_afre
042			_adc
100	1	0	_aBarkun, Michael _eauthor
245	0	0	_aConspiracy Theories as Stigmatized Knowledge
260			_c2016.
500			_a20
520			_aMost conspiracy theories exist as part of “stigmatized knowledge” – that is, knowledge claims that have not been accepted by those institutions we rely upon for truth validation. Not uncommonly, believers in conspiracy theories also accept other forms of stigmatized knowledge, such as unorthodox forms of healing and beliefs about Atlantis and UFOs. Rejection by authorities is for them a sign that a belief must be true. However, the linkage of conspiracy theories with stigmatized knowledge has been weakening, because stigmatized knowledge itself is growing more problematic. What was once clearly recognizable as “the fringe” is now beginning to merge with the mainstream. This process of “mainstreaming the fringe” is the result of numerous factors, including the ubiquity of the Internet, the growing suspicion of authority, and the spread of once esoteric themes in popular culture. Only a permeable membrane now separates the fringe from the mainstream. Thus conspiracism is no longer the province only of small, isolated coteries. It now has the potential to make the leap into public discourse. This, of course, does not apply to every conspiracy theory, but it happens enough to suggest that we are at an important transition point. The recent controversy in the United States over whether a conspiracy existed to hide President Obama’s alleged foreign birth – a claim that years earlier would never have emerged beyond small radical groups – suggests the nature of the change. It also suggests the dangers that political cultures may face in the future.
786	0		_nDiogenes | o 249-250 | 1 | 2016-05-20 | p. 168-176 | 0419-1633
856	4	1	_uhttps://shs.cairn.info/journal-diogene-2015-1-page-168?lang=en&redirect-ssocas=7080
999			_c419652 _d419652