Seminarios del IPP

Se presentarán las ponencias “People are merchants of conspiracy theories: A Weberian approach on ‘the paranoid style’ of politics” y “The Impact of the Turkish government’s conspiratorial framing of the Gezi Park Protests”, a cargo de Turkay Nefes (IPP-CSIC)

Evento virtual a través de Zoom

Organiza: Francisco Herreros (IPP-CSIC)

Abstract 1: “People are merchants of conspiracy theories”: Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? This presentation responds by scrutinizing the belief in conspiracy theories in Turkey. Building on Max Weber’s sociological theory on rationalisation, it proposes that value-laden and instrumentally rational predispositions, particularly religiosity and partisanship, predict people’s beliefs in conspiracy theories. The presentation discusses two studies testing this argument. The first analyses socio-political significance of the Turkish government’s conspiracy theories about the Gezi Park Protests in 2013 by relying on mixed-method content analysis of online users’ responses in the most popular Turkish forum website. It shows that people interpret the conspiracy theories in line with their political values and interests, and, accordingly, that the government’s conspiratorial frames concerning the protests seem to have contributed to the political polarization. The second study (with Ozan Aksoy [UCL]), examines two nationwide surveys in January and July 2013. It confirms that people interpret conspiracy theories in line with their instrumental rational interests(partisanship) and values(religiosity) they hold.

Abstract 2: “The Impact of the Turkish government’s conspiratorial framing”:  What happens when a Primer Minister frames a momentous protest as a foreign conspiracy? The Turkish government’s reaction to the Gezi Park protests, a reaction centred on a conspiracy theory about an “interest rate lobby”, provides a unique case to explore the impacts of conspiracy theories about big-scale protests. Relying on quantitative and qualitative content analysis of online users’ responses to the government’s conspiracy theories, I discuss the socio-political significance of this conspiratorial rhetoric. The findings demonstrate that (1) the previous political views of online users predict their responses to conspiracy theories, and (2) the users’ comments were centred in their perceptions of the government. These show that people tend to interpret the conspiracy theories in line with their political values and interests, and, accordingly, that the government’s conspiratorial frames concerning the protests seem to have contributed to the political fragmentation by enhancing the division between the Justice and Progress Party (AKP) supporters and opponents.

Bio: Turkay Salim Nefes is a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Goods and Policies of the Spanish National Research Council. He is also a research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and Sociology Department of the University of Oxford. Previously, he was a William Golding Junior Research Fellow at the Brasenose College of the University of Oxford. His main research interest is on the diffusion and impacts of ethno-religious hostility, particularly conspiracy theories. He has published his work on conspiracy theories in academic journals including The British Journal of Sociology, Rationality and Society, Journal of Historical Sociology and The Sociological Review. His work can be accessed in Researchgate.net