Economic insecurity and minority status predict higher conspiracy belief regardless of education or income

Evidence

Goertzel found that black and Latinx people were more likely to display anomia and what he called “low levels of interpersonal trust,” which are positive indicators of a belief in conspiracy theories; so was answering affirmatively to the question, “Thinking about the next 12 months, how likely do you think it is that you will lose your job or be laid off?” That pattern has more or less held true. “In relation to whites,” Uscinski and Parent wrote in 2014, “being black or Hispanic is a significant and positive predictor of conspiratorial predispositions when accounting for level of educational attainment and family income.” — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 145

Categorization

• XREF: Directly evidences the vault’s threat-and-status-loss mechanism for conspiracy belief, parallel to authoritarianism research showing threat-driven responses. — connects to: Conspiratorial belief is driven by minority status and anomia, not just white politics — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 144; Conspiracy belief functions as a coping mechanism for groups facing loss and marginalization — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 146; Conspiratorial belief correlates with lower education and income — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 67 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Threat and insecurity from structural conditions drive heightened conspiracy thinking #corroborates (0.92) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 56
• Conspiratorial belief correlates with lower education and income #qualifies (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 67
• Stress and institutional distrust drive Americans toward conspiracy explanations of unwelcome reality. #corroborates (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 54
• Conspiracy belief is universal across demographics while specific theories split along party lines #contradicts (0.82) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 93
• Conspiracy theories satisfy epistemic, existential, and social needs #expands (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 179
• Conspiracy belief is pervasive across every demographic group, not a fringe phenomenon #complicates (0.80) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 403
• Conspiracy belief stems from universal human meaning-making rather than outsider pathology #complicates (0.78) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 32