Conspiracism as ScapegoatingPrevious | TOC | Print | Next
One can argue on a metaphoric level that
when demonization, scapegoating, and paranoid-sounding conspiracist
allegations permeate a society it is a sign of societal distress and
dysfunction, but this is a sociological--not a psychological--diagnosis.
Societal outbreaks of conspiracism are a distinct form of scapegoating
in the political arena rather than an outcome of a paranoid psychological
pathology. In conspiracist discourse, the supposed conspirators serve
as scapegoats for the actual conflict within the society.~6
There are certainly mentally-unbalanced
individuals who promote paranoid-sounding conspiracist theories, however
it is simplistic to contend that these suspicious and often anti-social
individuals periodically join together to form large mass movements
around shared goals. It is also naive to argue that power elites or
government agencies are populated by clinically paranoid leaders who
see subversion behind all social change and therefore unilaterally
activate the repressive agencies of the state. Conspiracist scapegoating
certainly involves psychological processes, but it has an objective
reality as a useful social and political mechanism in actual power
struggles throughout US history.
By blaming a small group of individuals
for vast crimes or simple evil, conspiracism serves to divert attention
from the institutional locus of power that drives systemic oppression,
injustice and exploitation.
As explained by Frank P. Mintz:
"Conspiracism serves the needs of
diverse political and social groups in America and elsewhere. It
identifies elites, blames them for economic and social catastrophes,
and assumes that things will be better once popular action can remove
them from positions of power."~7
Right wing conspiracist scapegoating not
only identifies and blames elites, but also identifies and blames alleged
subversives and parasites from groups that have relatively lower social
or economic status. This is the classic producerist stance. Conspiracist
allegation can also be used to attack the status quo by outsider elite
factions seeking power.
Conspiracist scapegoating is not a process
found only on the fringes of society among so-called extremists. Richard
O. Curry and Thomas M. Brown, in their anthology, Conspiracy,
stress that "It is extremely important to note that fears of conspiracy
are not confined to charlatans, crackpots, and the disaffected. Anticonspiratorial
rhetoric has been a factor in major-party politics throughout most
of our history.~8
When scapegoating appears in the form of
a conspiracist theory, it follows the same trajectory as other forms
of scapegoating. As is typical of scapegoating, the choice of alleged
conspirators often reflects pre-existing sentiments and prejudices
already ingrained in the larger society. When persons with a conspiracist
worldview are prejudiced, the allegations of a subversive conspiracy
are often linked to the groups seen as inferior or threatening, resulting
in allegations of a Jewish banking conspiracy, vast conspiracies of
Arab terrorists, or plots by militant Blacks to pillage and burn suburban
communities. Persons alleging subversive conspiracies can span the
political spectrum, but in this country the largest number of such
persons appear to have intersected at some point with militant ultraconservative
and far right groups. This is true whether the conspiracist is in the
private sector or employed by the government.
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