Lost status and powerlessness, read as elite conspiracy, drive scapegoating conspiracism

Evidence

Scapegoating conspiracism responds to resentment and feelings of powerlessness by singling out a segment of the population as the cause of cruelly disappointed expectations. Rapid social change and loss of social status render people ready to target a particular group as the cause of their misfortune. The humiliation of losing status, of losing economic security, of losing a sense of racial dominance and superiority all feed anger and the desire to blame. There is this, too: the humiliation of powerlessness—of being unnoticed and unheeded. And all of this has been deliberately inflicted by a cabal of malevolent elites and the undeserving groups they champion. So, where historians see long-term processes of social and demographic change, conspiracists see the handiwork of a despised group. These conspiracist formulations are simplistic and reductive. Scapegoating conspiracism is an “ideological misrecognition of power relations.” — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 140

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the humiliation-of-powerlessness theme in ‘A Lot of People Are Saying’ itself and parallels status-threat research on white racial resentment. — connects to: Conspiracy theories give concrete form to a group’s sensed loss of power — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 58; Conspiracy functions as a power play by the powerless to be seen.; Conspiracy belief functions as a coping mechanism for groups facing loss and marginalization — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 146

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy belief functions as a coping mechanism for groups facing loss and marginalization #corroborates (0.88) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 146
• Conspiracy functions as a power play by the powerless to be seen. #expands (0.82)