Paper short abstract:

Conspiracy theorists are often presented as paranoid, while understanding themselves as merely sceptical. While existing in a state of tension between these two possibilities, they are better understood as practising "suspicion."

Paper long abstract:

In an episode of the BBC's Politics Live in January 2024, the journalist George Monbiot challenged Reem Ibrahim of the Institute of Economic Affairs, questioning the hardline neoliberal think-tank's secretive funding arrangements, alleging that it is "funded by oligarchs and corporations." In response, Ibrahim branded this a "conspiracy theory." This latter phrase has long served such a function, being a convenient scapegoat with which to shield power from the lunacies of popular suspicion. Social and cultural theorists have, moreover, long pushed back against this rhetorical disqualification, presenting conspiracy-conjecturing thought as a legitimate, if sometimes abused, mode of critique. This paper represents a theoretical investigation of suspicion as a mode of thought existing between scepticism and paranoia. It aims to reframe analysis of conspiracy theories and conspiracy culture, away from never-ending debates regarding what is "warranted." Instead, it seeks to distinguish the emancipatory potential of conspiratorial suspicion from the repressive forms it often takes in practice. Empirically, it engages the QAnon conspiracy theory. While the paper resists equating conspiracy theories and critical theories, it seeks to locate both in a broader framework.