Conspiracy Theory Belief and Education: A Critical Social Analysis

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 13, 1 - 19, 25.02.2023

Matthew Muscat-ınglott

https://doi.org/10.30520/tjsosci.1168549

Cited By: 1

Öz

Research on conspiracy theories has revealed a significant association between conspiratorial thinking and education. The relationship is complex, however, and has so far been limited primarily to investigations of personal psychological attributes. This paper argues, instead, in favour of a broader social research perspective, specifically, one informed by a dialectical materialist philosophy. A secondary analysis of publicly available international data sourced from economic institutions and other organisations on conspiratorial belief, educational performance measures, unemployment, inequality and corruption perception was carried out. Conspiratorial belief was taken as a collective public epistemological phenomenon across countries, to explore the role of contemporary education systems across societies, and the degree to which they are successfully nurturing an effective form of critical thinking. A dialectical materialist philosophical approach was instrumental in formulating the study scope and interpreting the findings, given the use of countries as the fundamental unit of analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and education, taking into account social context using unemployment, inequality, and corruption as control variables. The findings showed that the relationship between conspiratorial thinking and education held at the societal level, and was mediated by additional social factors. The paper goes on to argue, by virtue of the nature of the mediators, that education systems generally tend to fall short of effective and socially-engaged forms of critical pedagogy.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Conspiracy theories, education, critical thinking, critical social theory, critical pedagogy, dialectical materialism

Teşekkür

Please consider this work on conspiracy theories and education, which assumes a slightly different approach. I do hope you find it interesting. I am in a position to provide a better Turkish translation if needed. I can also provide higher resolution figures if needed. Thanks.

Komplo teorisi inancı ve eğitimi: Eleştirel bir sosyal analiz

Öz

Komplo teorileri üzerine yapılan araştırmalar, komplocu düşünce ile eğitim arasında önemli bir ilişki olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Bununla birlikte, ilişki karmaşıktır ve şimdiye kadar öncelikle kişisel psikolojik niteliklerin araştırılmasıyla sınırlandırılmıştır. Bu makale, bunun yerine, daha geniş bir sosyal araştırma perspektifinin, özellikle de diyalektik materyalist bir felsefe tarafından bilgilendirilen bir perspektifin lehine tartışmaktadır. Ekonomik kurumlardan ve diğer kuruluşlardan komplocu inanç, eğitim performans ölçütleri, işsizlik, eşitsizlik ve yolsuzluk algısı üzerine elde edilen kamuya açık uluslararası verilerin ikincil bir analizi yapılmıştır. Komplocu inanç, toplumlar arasında çağdaş eğitim sistemlerinin rolünü ve etkili bir eleştirel düşünme biçimini başarılı bir şekilde besleme derecesini araştırmak için ülkeler arasında kolektif bir kamu epistemolojik fenomeni olarak kabul edildi. Diyalektik materyalist felsefi bir yaklaşım, ülkelerin analizin temel birimi olarak kullanılması göz önüne alındığında, çalışma kapsamının formüle edilmesinde ve bulguların yorumlanmasında etkili olmuştur. Komplo teorilerine inanç ile eğitim arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemek için çoklu regresyon analizi, işsizlik, eşitsizlik ve yolsuzluğun kontrol değişkenleri olarak kullanıldığı sosyal bağlamı dikkate alarak kullanılmıştır. Bulgular, komplocu düşünce ile eğitim arasındaki ilişkinin toplumsal düzeyde devam ettiğini ve ek sosyal faktörler tarafından aracılık edildiğini göstermiştir. Makale, arabulucuların doğası gereği, eğitim sistemlerinin genellikle eleştirel pedagojinin etkili ve sosyal olarak meşgul biçimlerinden yoksun kalma eğiliminde olduğunu iddia etmeye devam ediyor.

Anahtar Kelimeler

komplo teorileri, eleştirel sosyal teori, eğitim, diyalektik materyalizm

Kaynakça

• Baron, R. M. & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(1), 1173-1182.
• Boronski, T. (2022). Critical pedagogy: An exploration of contemporary themes and issues. Routledge.
• Bronner, S. E. (2011). Critical theory: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Chatterjee, I., & Ahmed, W. (2019). Dialectical Materialism. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 18(2), 364-393.
• Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R., Broadnax, S. & Blaine, B. E. (1999). Belief in U.S. government conspiracies against blacks among black and white college students: Powerlessness or System Blame? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(8), 941–953. doi: 10.1177/01461672992511003
• Davis, J., Wetherell, G. & Henry, P. J. (2018). Social devaluation of African Americans and race-related conspiracy theories. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(7), 999-1010. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2531
• Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., Callan, M. J., Dawtry, R. J. & Harvey, A. J. (2015). Someone is pulling the strings: Hypersensitive agency detection and belief in conspiracy theories. Thinking & Reasoning, 26(6), 1–21. doi: 10.1080/13546783.2015.1051586
• Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S. & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 40(S1), 3–35. doi: 10.1111/pops.12568.
• Galliford, N. & Furnham, A. (2017). Individual difference factors and beliefs in medical and political conspiracy theories. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 58(5), 422-428. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12382
• Geuss, R. (1981). The idea of critical theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt school. Cambridge University Press.
• Giroux, H. A. (2003). Racial injustice and disposable youth in the age of zero tolerance. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(4), 553–565. doi: 10.1080/0951839032000099543
• Giroux, H. A. (2021). On critical pedagogy, 2nd edition. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Goertzel, T. (1994). Belief in Conspiracy Theories. Political Psychology, 15(4), 731.doi: 10.2307/3791630
• Heins, V. (2007). Critical theory and the traps of conspiracy thinking. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 33(7), 787–801. doi: 10.1177/0191453707081675
• Hill, D., Skordoulis, K. & Rasinski, L. (2019). Introduction. In: Rasinski, L., Hill, D. & Skordoulis, K. (eds.) Marxism and education: International perspectives on theory and action (pp. 1-8). Routledge.
• Lantian, A., Bagneux, V., Delouvée, S., & Gauvrit, N. (2021). Maybe a free thinker but not a critical one: High conspiracy belief is associated with low critical thinking ability. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35(3), 674–684. doi: 10.1002/acp.3790
• McLaren, P. (2016). A look at the major concepts, in Pruyn, M. Huerta-Charles, L (eds.) The fist called my heart: The Peter McLaren reader, volume 1 (pp. 27-66). Information Age Publishing.
• OECD (2021). Programme for International Student Assessment data [online]. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/
• OECD (2022). Transformative Competencies for 2030 [online]. https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/transformative-competencies/in_brief_Transformative_Competencies.pdf
• Popkova, E. G., & Tinyakova, V. I. (2013). Dialectical methodology of analysis of economic growth. World Applied Sciences Journal, 24(4), 467-475. doi: 10.5829/idosi.wasj.2013.24.04.13189
• Reay, D. (2012). What would a socially just education system look like? Saving the minnows from the pike. Journal of Education Policy, 27(5), 42-63. doi: 10.1080/02680939.2012.710015
• Sutton, R. M. & Douglas, K. M. (2020). Conspiracy theories and the conspiracy mindset: implications for political ideology. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 118–122. doi: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.02.015
• Swami, V., Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Tran, U. S. & Furnham, A. (2014). Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories. Cognition, 133(3), 572–585. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.08.0
• Thalheimer, A. (1927). Introduction to dialectical materialism: The Marxist worldview. Covici Friede.
• Transparency International (2021). Corruption Perceptions Index methodology [online]. https://images.transparencycdn.org/images/2020-Methodology_v3.zip
• Uscinski, J. E. (2018). Conspiracy theories and the people who believe in them. Oxford Scholarship Online. https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190844073.001.0001/oso-9780190844073
• van Prooijen, J. W. (2017). Why education predicts decreased belief in conspiracy theories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 31(17), 50-58.
• van Prooijen, J. W., Krouwel, A. P. M. & Pollet, T. (2015). Political extremism predicts belief in conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(5), 570–578. doi: 10.1177/1948550614567356
• White, J. D. (1996). Karl Marx and the intellectual origins of dialectical materialism. Macmillan.
• World Bank (2021). The World Bank data: All indicators [online]. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator?tab=all
• YouGov (2021). YouGov Cambridge globalism study [online]. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/2ouu9vfd10/YouGov%20-%20Globalism%20Study%20and%20conspiracies%20Results.pdf
• Zembylas, M. (2021). Moving beyond debunking conspiracy theories from a narrow epistemic lens: ethical and political implications for education. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 1–16. doi: 10.1080/14681366.2021.1948911