How did conspiracies get so big in American politics?
Share this  Article Facebook  Twitter  Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University University of Rochester  Political scientist Scott Tyson studies how conspiracies and radicalization have entered the American mainstream, and what to do about it. Over the course of the last five years, he noticed a watershed. For starters, the term conspiracy theory no longer applied to the convoluted ideas spouted by todays conspiracist groups such as QAnon, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers, all of whom Tyson calls largely theoryless.  For example, Tyson, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Rochester and a game theorist whose research focuses on authoritarian politics, conspiracies, and radicalization, points out that those who believe erroneously that former President Donald Trumps victory was stolen, usually do not believe that votes cast on that same ballot for successful Republican congressional candidates have been tampered with. There is no elaborate theory behind the assertion that the last election was rigged. Its just a bunch of assertions that dont really fit together in a cohesive story, says Tyson. Instead, he prefers the term conspiracism to describe what he sees as the current stream of misinformation. According to Tyson, its this growing belief in conspiracist narratives that has led to the increased radicalization of average Americans. In order for people to commit violent acts you have to make it seem as if theres some greater cause, says Tyson. You have to convince people that the political opposition is in cahoots as part of some crazy cabal, and that the greater cause is to overturn that cabal, which justifies extreme actions, including violence and breaking the law. In a recent study in the American Journal of Political Science, Tysontogether with University of Michigan coauthor Todd Lehmannlooks at two common policy interventionseconomic and psychologicaldesigned to counter the growing radicalization among the US population. The duo finds that improving economic conditions reduces both radicalization efforts and dissent. However, the duo also finds that trying to render people psychologically less susceptible to radicalization can backfire and instead increase the efforts by radical leaders to influence and radicalize more followers. While radical assertions of a deep state and stolen elections have long bubbled quietly underneath public discourse, Tyson says during the last five years, the ideas have moved into the mainstream discourse. That shiftfrom fringe to center stageTyson argues, happened during the Trump presidency. The January 6 storming of the US Capitol, Tyson says, was driven by such conspiratorial misinformation, as hundreds of American citizens attacked the seat of American democracy in order to reverse what they were led falsely to believe was an undemocratic electiondespite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Here, Tyson explains his work and how conspiracies have gone mainstream in American politics: