Resonant Awakenings: The Social Lives of Conspiracy Theorists

Abstract

The moments during which people come to believe in conspiracy theories have been described as ‘awakenings’. Current research offers individualised and narrative explanations of awakenings. Yet the social qualities of these experiences have received little attention. Accordingly, this article offers a sociological view of resonant awakenings to explain the processual interactions through which belief in and commitment to conspiracy theories builds. Informed by theories of resonance and ethnographic data, we explain how experiences of emotional resonance initiate awakenings in response to perceived failures of epistemic authorities. Awakenings continue through epistemic resonance, where conspiracy theories are interpreted in groups, leading to collective identification with these contentious forms of knowledge. Finally, activist resonance involves collective participation, which can culminate in the mobilisation of conspiracy movements that challenge state and social institutions. The practical and theoretical contributions of these findings extend sociological theories of conspiracy movements and resonance.