Everything Is Connected: Conspiracy Theories in the Age of the Internet
Research Question
What difference has the internet made to the creation and consumption of conspiracy theories?
Project Description
From Covid-19 to QAnon, conspiracy theories have become increasingly prominent in the online information ecosystem. Enabled by the design and financial incentives of the digital platforms, once marginal ideas now readily find a community of believers. Although online conspiracism is at times merely harmless entertainment or a sign of healthy scepticism, it can also undermine trust in democracy, science, and even truth itself. Combining the ‘close reading’ of cultural studies with the ‘distant reading’ of digital methods, this research project addresses how and why the internet has changed conspiracy theories, and what can and should be done about them.
Selected Publications
Butter, M. and P. Knight, eds., Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories. Routledge, 2020.
Knight, P. Reading the Market: Genres of Financial Capitalism in the Gilded Age America. John Hopkins University Press, 2016.
Knight, P. Conspiracy Culture: From the Kennedy Assassination to “The X-Files”. Routledge, 2000.