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Short abstract:

By comparing Epistemic Injustice’s discourse and Conspiracy Theories regarding socio-technical issues, this paper aims to show their resemblances but also the key differences, therefore contributing to a better understanding of Conspiracy Theories as a whole.

Long abstract:

Drawing on Michele Foucault’s concepts of discursive formation and effect, and Bernard Kleeberg’s conceptualization of truth as a social operator, this paper aims to unravel the conditions of possibilities for the simultaneous emergence and expansion of two prevalent discourses: Epistemic Injustices (EI), incarnated by social movements, and Conspiracy Theories (CT), and its conspiracy theorists, both functioning as imagined forms of public participation in socio-technological controversies. The paper thus offers a comparative analysis of how these discourses “do truth”, alongside the historical and social conditions explaining their shared proliferation.

The analysis foregrounds the hermeneutics of suspicion, a concept central to the humanities and social sciences, as a common foundation underpinning both EI and CT. This approach positions these discourses as alternative modes of truth-telling in contexts where the credibility of scientific, governmental, and media institutions is increasingly questioned, reflecting a broader demand for transparency from these institutions. To add to these unsettling common grounds and features, claims for EI are often disregarded as conspiracy theories, making it all the more vital to shedding light on the key divergences between them, in order to provide a better look on what is a Conspiracy Theory. By focusing on blame, concrete perpetrators, and their punishment, CT are limited in their capacity for abstraction and their demands for change. Conversely, EI’ discourse can account for the complex nature of socio-technical issues, and their abstract causes, within which it contextualizes contingent responsibilities, and on their basis demands not merely punishment, but rather concrete and structural changes.