Conspiracy Theories: Overview

Introduction

A conspiracy theory seeks to explain a disputed event as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act. Conspiracy theories of various kinds have been part of human culture for centuries. The struggle against conspiracies, whether real or imagined, has become a standard model in literary fiction, while the belief in actual conspiracies is a type of social phenomenon.

Conspiracy theories serve a number of functions in human psychology. In some cases, they can be used to express suspicion and anger toward a dominant social group or to express frustration with perceived powerlessness within society. Conspiracy theories have also been used by those in power to justify the persecution of targeted groups. In a more fundamental sense, conspiracy theories express a basic desire to uncover mysteries and secrets hidden within the generally accepted explanations of historical events.

Historically, conspiracy theories are more common in periods of social unrest or change. During times of political or social crisis, conspiracy theories may arise among groups that believe they are at a political or social disadvantage in comparison to other groups judged to have a superior social status. In other cases, conspiracy theories may be used to justify the persecution of a group that has been politically or militarily targeted. Though conspiracy theories persist, for much of history mainstream society has typically considered most such theories to be a product of fiction or paranoia rather than a viable explanation for political or social events.

Understanding the Discussion

Apocryphal: Of questionable authorship or authenticity.

Conspiracy: An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

Covert: Not openly practiced; secret.

Cynicism: An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity; a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.

Deconstruction: A philosophical movement and theory of literary criticism that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth; asserts that words can only refer to other words; and attempts to demonstrate how statements within a text serve to subvert the meaning of the text.

Illuminati: People claiming to be unusually enlightened about a particular subject; often used in conspiracy theories to refer to a shadowy group wielding power behind the scenes.

Urban legend: An apocryphal story involving incidents of the recent past that spreads quickly and is believed to be true.

History

Conspiracy theories are likely as old as humanity itself, as people are in many ways psychologically predisposed to such thinking. Tribalism, in which people tend to affirm their own social bonds and view members of other groups as potential rivals, is considered both a common human instinct and an underlying aspect of many conspiracy theories. Similarly, people have long attempted to provide explanations for mysterious events and sought to interpret patterns and deeper meanings of various phenomena. Interweaving with these instincts are often deep-rooted anxieties over social power and wealth. Some of history’s most persistent conspiracy theories have resurfaced in one form or another for centuries and are often connected to economic insecurities and broad social change. For example, some historians have suggested that fear of a plot by the Jewish elite to seize control of Christian Europe played a role in motivating citizens to take part in the Crusades (1095–1291). A similar fear was later used by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust, a sentiment that continued to be circulated in the twenty-first century by anti-Semitic groups to justify mistrust or hatred of Jewish people.

In Western society, the fascination with conspiracy theories became pronounced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There is some debate over when the term conspiracy theory was coined, but it is generally believed to have arisen in the early twentieth century. According to historian Daniel Pipes, most well-known Western conspiracy theories have roots dating from between 1815 and 1945, a period during which numerous conspiratorial ideas and theories proliferated as society underwent a broad evolution into the modern era. During this time, popular culture spawned a number of theories that sought to explain many of history’s major events, including wars, genocide, and shifts in political power, in light of conspiracies enacted by secret societies.

During and after the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was suggested that several powerful groups were instigating revolutionary violence in order to benefit from the resulting shifts in power. It was during this period that two groups, the Freemasons and the Illuminati, gained infamy as allegedly two of the world’s most powerful secret societies. The Freemasons are one of the oldest known and most mysterious fraternal organizations in the world. The society’s history is shrouded in uncertainty; some claim that the group originated as early as the tenth century CE, while other historians place the society’s origins closer to the sixteenth century. Membership in the Freemasons is closed to all but those nominated by other members. Masonic meetings and rituals were a closely guarded secret for centuries. Masonic society is based on the belief in a supreme being and is dedicated to upholding just laws. The Bavarian Illuminati, founded in 1776 by law professor Adam Weishaupt, was a fraternal society of intellectuals dedicated to rational analysis of politics and society. The organization drew its members from the intellectual elite and counted a number of prominent politicians and philosophers among its members. Because meetings of secret societies were prohibited in Bavaria (a German state), the Illuminati were considered a criminal organization. The Bavarian Illuminati were involved in a number of movements to alter the balance of political power in Bavaria.

Because the Freemasons and the Illuminati were extremely secretive and counted a number of influential political and social figures among their membership, many people believed that both groups were capable of exerting tremendous influence on societal development. Throughout the eighteenth century, both groups were the subject of hundreds of fictionalized stories. In such stories, the secret societies were described as villainous organizations involved in a plot for global domination or personal benefit until foiled by a heroic character or group.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the American political landscape was rife with conspiracy theories. From the American Revolution until the Civil War, many politicians and citizens believed that European governments were attempting to infiltrate and cause the downfall of the American government. Some Americans also likened the Catholic Church to a foreign monarchy, in which the pope served as a sovereign. Many Americans opposed Catholic immigration; they believed that Catholics, acting on the behalf of the pope, would undermine or try to overthrow the government, which was dominated by Protestant officials. Belief in the Catholic conspiracy led to the development of several anti-Catholic political parties, the most prominent of which, the Know Nothing Party, had a substantial impact on politics during the mid-1800s.

During the Cold War (1940s–1980s), many Americans believed that there was plot among communist leaders to gain control of the United States government through covert agents functioning as US citizens. During the 1940s and 1950s, Senator Joe McCarthy prompted a number of Senate hearings aimed at uncovering communist activity in the United States. Thousands of US citizens were detained and questioned on suspicion of involvement in anti-American activities. Years later, the McCarthy trials became symbolic of how conspiracy theories can lead to paranoia and persecution.

In the 1960s, the United States and rival nations, such as the Soviet Union, raced to be the first country to successfully explore space and land an astronaut on the moon. In the 1990s, some conspiracy theorists began to propose that the 1969 US moon landing never occurred. It was suggested that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in conjunction with the federal government, filmed the moon landing in a movie studio in order to convince foreign governments that the United States had won the race into outer space. The moon landing hoax theory has persisted into the twenty-first century.

Between the 1960s and the 1990s, the focus of conspiracy theories arising within the United States shifted from the belief that foreign agents were trying to influence US politics to the notion that the US government was manipulating the populace to fuel the advancement of individual politicians or political lineages. In some polls, American trust in the government fell from close to 80 percent in the 1950s to less than 25 percent in the late 1990s.

The 1963 assassination of US President John F. Kennedy became the basis for one of the most famous conspiracy theories in American history. Numerous books, films and journalistic investigations attempted to illustrate key points that either supported or refuted the conspiratorial angle. This conspiracy theory is especially notable in that theorists often accuse the US government and its operative organizations of carrying out the assassination. It would eventually become common for seemingly unrelated conspiracy theories, such as belief in secret US government contact with extraterrestrials, to also note some alleged connection to the Kennedy assassination, taking advantage of the great popularity of that theory.

Other longstanding conspiracy theories include the belief that the government facility Area 51 is a containment facility for aliens, that the earth is flat, and that vaccines cause autism. Though many feel that modern conspiracy theories represent extreme cynicism and skepticism and are generally based on apocryphal beliefs, history is also punctuated with evidence of verified conspiracies aimed at influencing political developments. Such examples are often cited alongside select kernels of truth in order to lend credence to other conspiracy theories.

The global instability signaled by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was commonly cited as an important factor in priming audiences to accept conspiracy theories. The incident itself also became a high-profile target of conspiracy theorists, with many suggesting that US president George W. Bush and his Republican allies had prior knowledge of the attacks or even planned them. Still, most political analysts viewed these conspiracy theories as little more than an example of paranoia and increasing distrust of the government on the part of some segments of the American populace.

Underlining the view that political polarization can allow conspiracy theories to flourish, Democratic president Barack Obama was also a magnet for conspiracy theories. During his campaign, and throughout his first term, Obama was hounded by relentless and increasingly far-fetched conspiracy theories. A vocal subset of the population known as the “Birther” movement contended that Obama had faked his Hawaiian birth certificate, with many conspiracists claiming he was actually born in Kenya. The Birthers found a prominent spokesman in businessman Donald Trump, who frequently questioned the validity of Obama’s presidency in the national media. Other popular Obama theories claimed that the president was secretly a practicing Muslim, that he traveled to Mars as a teen, and that he was the Antichrist.

After Trump was elected president in 2016, many analysts noted that he further helped bring belief in conspiracy theories into the mainstream while eroding public trust in the media and science. He promoted various conspiracy theories, including an allegation that the Ukrainian government, working with Democrats, had framed Russia for its interference in the 2016 US presidential election (a notion proven false by the FBI). He also spread falsehoods about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and his own loss in the 2020 presidential election, drawing protest from experts who warned his blatantly false claims threatened public health and public safety. Meanwhile, his supporters placed him at the center of a sprawling conspiracy theory known as QAnon, in which an anonymous online commentator claimed to have knowledge of vast conspiracies by the US government and Trump's role as a savior who would bring the nefarious efforts to light. Though QAnon beliefs were repeatedly proven false, its adherents often defended their views by adding new layers to the alleged conspiracy involving “deep state” shadow governments and “false flag” operations designed to obscure those actually responsible.

The apparent surge of interest in high-profile, politically charged conspiracy theories led to much concern from skeptics, with some arguing that the proliferation of outlandish theories was becoming a serious threat to society. This threat was seen in real-life situations such as armed incidents involving QAnon believers; the violent attack on the US capitol building on January 6, 2021, by Trump supporters who believed his false narrative that the presidential election had been stolen from him; and the widespread opposition to COVID-19 vaccines.

Conspiracy Theories Today

Many existing conspiracy theories carried over into the 2020s, and new ones arose as well. By then some observers suggested that a new era of conspiratorial thinking had emerged, driven as usual by economic and social change—and especially fostered by the rise of the internet and social media. Spurred on by the rising popularity of COVID-19 and election denialism, some conspiracy theories enjoyed widespread popular support that saw them cross over to the mainstream. For example, the musician Oliver Anthony, who went viral in 2023 for his song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” refers in the song to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly hosted several gatherings of influential people on a private island in the US Virgin Islands. Anthony’s song, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 2023, alludes to the number of high-profile politicians that allegedly visited Epstein’s island, where, according to popular theories, they engaged in sex acts with minors who had been trafficked to the island. Furthermore, Epstein died by suicide in confinement while awaiting trial in 2019, which in and of itself was fuel for conspiracy theorists who argued that Epstein’s death occurred under suspicious circumstances and came at a convenient time, as the pending charges against him were dismissed following his death. Many supporters of the theory felt that the scope of the alleged crimes, as well as the full suite of visitors to the island, would come to light during the court proceedings and that Epstein was either killed or pushed to suicide to prevent this.

Support of such conspiracies increased with members of right-wing circles, who throughout this time began to disseminate previously fringe theories as publicly expressed beliefs. Such sentiments were so widespread that many experts expected the 2024 US presidential election to be colored by election fraud conspiracies, and in advance of the election year, several Republican candidates had implemented election denialism as a facet of their campaign. Indeed, Trump, who had announced his candidacy in 2022, asserted that the election was already rigged and that the more than ninety criminal charges brought against him spread over four criminal cases (ranging from election interference to falsifying business records) in 2023 was a conspiracy to prevent him from being re-elected in 2024. Despite such assertions, Trump returned to the presidential office in 2025.

Although increasingly linked to the spread of harmful misinformation and disinformation throughout the early twenty-first century, historians, sociologists, and psychologists continued to suggest that conspiracy theories were a natural outgrowth of a human desire to explore and uncover facets of experience that remain unexplained. Others suggested that such theories are the product of frustrations related to the secretive nature of some political, social, and historical organizations and operations. In addition, conspiracy theories have had an enduring aesthetic appeal as a plot device for fiction and as an expression of the mythic struggle between good and evil. Whether in reference to actual conspiracies or fictional accounts of secret covenants, the perpetuation of conspiracy theories reflected both the human desire to pursue and untangle any mystery and the uneven distribution of power and influence within society.

These essays and any opinions, information or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

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