Conspiracy Panics

Political Rationality and Popular Culture

Jack Z. Bratich

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780791473344, 9780791473337
• eBook ISBN: 9780791478820
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Phenomenology in Philosophy

Examines contemporary anxiety over the phenomenon of conspiracy theories.

While most other works focus on conspiracy theories, this book examines conspiracy panics, or the anxiety over the phenomenon of conspiracy theories. Jack Z. Bratich argues that conspiracy theories are portals into the major social issues defining U.S. and global political culture. These issues include the rise of new technologies, the social function of journalism, U.S. race relations, citizenship and dissent, globalization, biowarfare and biomedicine, and the shifting positions within the Left. Using a Foucauldian governmentality analysis, Bratich maintains that conspiracy panics contribute to a broader political rationality, a (neo)liberal strategy of governing at a distance through the use of reason. He also explores the growing popularity of 9/11 conspiracy research in terms of what he calls the "sphere of legitimate dissensus." Conspiracy Panics concludes that we are witnessing a new fusion of culture and rationality, one that is increasingly shared across the political spectrum.

Table of contents

• CONSPIRACY PANICS
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1. POLITICAL SCIENCE FICTION: Expert Monitors, Excessive Skepticism,and Preventive Rationality
• 2. POP GOES THE PROFESSION: Journalism, New Media Culture, and Populism
• 3. TRUST NO ONE(ON THE INTERNET): Gary Webb, Popular Technologies,and Professional Journalism
• 4. LEFT BEHIND: AIDS, Biowarfare, and the Politics of Articulation
• 5. GOING GLOBAL: 9/11, Popular Investigations, and the Sphere of Legitimate Dissensus
• CONCLUSION
• APPENDIX
• NOTES
• REFERENCES
• INDEX