Open AccessThey Are Selling Themselves Out to the Enemy! The Content and Effects of Populist Conspiracy Theories
Author(s) -
Michael Hameleers
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of public opinion research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-6909
pISSN - 0954-2892
DOI - 10.1093/ijpor/edaa004
Subject(s) - ideology , rhetoric , populism , adversary , content (measure theory) , right wing , political science , content analysis , sociology , media studies , social psychology , law , psychology , social science , politics , linguistics , philosophy , computer security , mathematical analysis , mathematics , computer science
Despite the alleged discursive affinity between populist rhetoric and conspiracy theories, we know too little about how populist conspiracies are communicated by politicians, and how these messages activate individual-level support for populist ideas. In this setting, this article reports on a qualitative content analysis of leading (radical) right-wing populist politicians’ self-communication (Trump and Wilders) and an experiment in which the central content features of populist conspiracies are manipulated. The main findings indicate that populist conspiracy theories activate populist attitudes more than mere exposure to populist ideas. Together, this article shows how conspiracies are framed in populist actors’ communication, and how these populist conspiracy frames can fuel support for populist ideology in society.