Hofstadter made ‘paranoid’ a political term despite intending it only metaphorically

Evidence

The connection made between conspiracy and paranoia has two interrelated origins. The fi rst, and more general, source is the similarity between the delusional systems of paranoids and the plots imagined by conspiracy theorists. The second source is Richard Hofstadter’s widely cited essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” fi rst printed in the month of John F. Kennedy’s assassination and published in its fi nal form in 1965. Hofstadter sought to make clear that his use of paranoid was metaphorical rather than literal and clinical. Indeed, he argued that, unlike the clinical paranoid, the political paranoid believes that the plot is directed not against himself or herself personally, but “against a nation, a culture, a way of life whose fate affects not himself alone but millions of others.” Despite this caveat, Hofstadter, partly by the force of his writing and argument, introduced clinical terminology into the stream of discourse, where it could be employed more broadly by others. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 99

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to base/power paranoid-style analyses elsewhere; also connects ‘Paranoid Style’ to current political discourse. — connects to: The term conspiracy theory acquired its stigmatizing connotation partly through Hofstadter’s essay. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 95
• SHARE: Worth sending to anyone researching the genealogy of ‘paranoid style’ as a rhetorical-political category.