< Back to previous page

Project

Imagining Opaque Power. The Production and Consumption of Conspiracy Theories on YouTube

Conspiracy theories about the state, industries, politicians, Illuminati and a secret New World Order are highly popular in western societies - particularly amongst youngsters. In the social sciences, such theories are generally understood as 'cognitive maps' or 'meta-narratives' to make sense of opaque power in globalized institutions. Departing from such general and functionalist theories and critiquing the blind spot for media, this research project empirically studies how and why youngsters imagine opaque power in conspiracy theories on YouTube. It takes conspiracy theories about the alleged 'power elite' - politicians (Trump, Putin) and pop stars (BeyoncĂ©, Madonna) - as a case study. Research questions are 1) What types of conspiracy theories are formulated about these elites and the social institutions they represent 2) how do conspiracy theorists construct such 'oppositional readings' of mainstream media texts in text, image and sound and how is this related to their socialcultural position 3) how does their audience read, negotiate and authenticate such paranoid readings? To answer these questions, different complementary methods are applied: a multimodal content-analysis of about 30 YouTube clips (RQ1 and 2), in-depth (Skype) interviews with about 15 theoretically selected producers (RQ2) and, finally, a survey with regular students and, based on this, in-depth interviews with 15 followers or 'believers' (RQ3).

Date:1 Jan 2019 →  31 Dec 2022
Keywords:Social sciences
Disciplines:Media studies not elsewhere classified