Conspiracy theories: "The pharmaceutical industry is doing very well as a villain"

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Vaccination opponents at a demonstration: "Typical for an esoteric way of communication"

Photo: Christophe Gateau / DPA

Christian Sieg researches the political meaning of religious narratives at the Cluster of Excellence »Religion and Politics« at the WWU Münster.

Together with colleagues, he has published an online dossier in which they discuss similarities between religions and conspiracy theories.

According to Sieg, today's culture is largely shaped by meaningful narratives.

He can explain why conspiracy theories are so fascinating.

SPIEGEL:

Mr. Sieg, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy theories at the moment.

Is the term applicable?

Sieg:

I find it more appropriate to speak of conspiracy narratives.

It is a function of narratives to trace events to causes.

This is exactly what conspiracy narratives do: They tell of an actor operating in secret who is supposed to be responsible for an event.

They also share something about the narrator.

Only when we understand this aspect do we understand conspiracy theories better.

SPIEGEL:

What kind of imaginations do conspiracy theorists use? 

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