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Abstract

This article challenges criminologists to adopt a more critical orientation to conspiracy theories. The first part of the article suggests that a moral panic over conspiracy theories has given rise to a conspiracy theory research agenda that has pathologised and criminalised conspiracy theories. The second part of the article argues that although conspiracies are important sociological and political phenomena, the term ‘conspiracy theory’ functions to stigmatise certain narratives. The article traces the origins of conspiracy denial in the social sciences. The final part of the article argues that criminologists should take conspiracy theories seriously and seek to investigate conspiracies. If popular conspiracy theories about elite wrongdoing are invalid, criminologists should develop better explanations of how and why conspiracies take place, as well as who conspires and to what ends. The article outlines some existing concepts and approaches that criminologists might utilise to this end.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in The British Journal of Criminology following peer review. The version of record will be available online at: academic.oup.com/bjc
Publisher Keywords:	Conspiracy theories, Deep politics, Disinformation, Parapolitics, State-corporate crime, State-organised crime
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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