New conspiracism defies the out-of-power symmetry expectation

Evidence

Our overview of general accounts of conspiracism—Hofstadter’s paranoid style, cognitive accounts, and accounts that center on partisanship—would lead one to expect symmetry between conspiracism from the left and from the right. The standard proposition has it that parties out of power will be more inclined to conspiracy theories than parties in power, so that as parties alternate in office, we should expect to see conspiracism on both sides of the spectrum. But with the new conspiracism, the symmetry we expect does not show up: the new conspiracism comes from the right, and it comes not only from those on the margins but also from those in power—from winners like Trump. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 121

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the defining contrast of ‘new conspiracism’ against both the paranoid-style and cognitive symmetry accounts: it is right-wing and wielded by those in power.
• XREF: connects to: Conspiratorial predispositions partition evenly across both parties — Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, American Conspiracy Theories, 589

Broader Connections

• Conspiratorial predispositions partition evenly across both parties #contradicts (0.85) — Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, American Conspiracy Theories, 589