SOCI 333 Sociology of Conspiracy
In this course, we still study the history and present-day consequences of conspiracies mainly in the United States, but also internationally. This course will focus on the social psychological rationales behind belief, as well as the macro-level factors that influence beliefs. Specifically, we will examine the sociological origins and rationales behind freemasons, 9/11 truthers, anti-vaxxers, and coronavirus conspiracists, among others. This course will also present information about the criminal justice system as we will investigate the ways in which our institutions work to foil conspiracies, and how the justice system has been implicitly or explicitly involved in conspiracies from the past.