Contesting epistemic authority: Conspiracy theories on the boundaries of science
Abstract
Conspiracy theories are immensely popular today, yet in the social sciences they are often dismissed as “irrational,” “bad science,” or “religious belief.” In this study, we take a cultural sociological approach and argue that this persistent disqualification is a form of “boundary work” that obscures rather than clarifies how and why conspiracy theorists challenge the epistemic authority of science. Based on a qualitative study of the Dutch conspiracy milieu, we distinguish three critiques that are motivated by encounters with scientific experts in everyday life: the alleged dogmatism of modern science, the intimate relation of scientific knowledge production with vested interests, and the exclusion of lay knowledge by scientific experts forming a global “power elite.” Given their critique that resonates with social scientific understandings of science, it is concluded that conspiracy theorists compete with (social) scientists in complex battles for epistemic authority in a broader field of knowledge contestation.
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Dentith, M. R. X. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0006 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Reconfiguring health knowledges? Contemporary modes of self-care as ‘everyday fringe medicine’
Vuolanto, P. H., Bergroth, H., Nurmi, J., & Salmenniemi, S. (2020) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/0963662520934752 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“Previous research on the public understanding of science pertaining to groups that are critical of the medical establishment has shown that in public discussions and academic circles alike, many forms of the lay appropriation of scientific claims still tend to be framed as public ‘misunderstandings’ (or ‘ignorance’) o…”
BackgroundBöcher, M., Zeigermann, U., Berker, L. E., & Jabra, D. (2022) · Environmental Politics · doi:10.1080/09644016.2022.2090537 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“Pertaining to scientific evidence, populists, thus, employ ‘post-truth’ repertoires of contesting epistemic authorities and based on radical simplification, they produce forms of ‘counter knowledge’ appealing to experiential knowledge over expertise (Harambam and Aupers 2014, Ylä-Anttila 2018).”
BackgroundDiFonzo, N. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0017 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Conspiracist cognition: chaos, convenience, and cause for concern
Lewandowsky, S. (2021) · Journal for Cultural Research · doi:10.1080/14797585.2021.1886423 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“People in this milieu ‘argue that the ideal of objectivity is highly problematic: scientific “facts” are not so much “discovered” but “constructed” and this knowledge production is intimately related to political power and economic interests’ (Harambam & Aupers, 2015, p. 474).”
BackgroundEcological economics in the age of fear
Muradian, R. S., & Pascual, U. (2019) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106498 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Drążkiewicz, E., & Harambam, J. (2021) · Journal for Cultural Research · doi:10.1080/14797585.2021.1886420 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“The alternative theories presented by those believing in conspiracy theories thus compete with our carefully crafted explanations of reality (Harambam & Aupers, 2015; Latour, 2004).”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe impact of social desirability bias on conspiracy belief measurement across cultures
Smallpage, S., Enders, A., Drochon, H., & Uscinski, J. E. (2022) · Political Science Research and Methods · doi:10.1017/psrm.2022.1 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Conspiratorial Thinking and Dueling Fact Perceptions
Marietta, M., & Barker, D. C. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0014 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Don't trust anybody: Conspiracy mentality and the detection of facial trustworthiness cues
Frenken, M., & Imhoff, R. (2022) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3955 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
In generative AI we trust: can chatbots effectively verify political information?
Kuznetsova, E., Makhortykh, M., Vziatysheva, V., Stolze, M., Baghumyan, A., & Urman, A. (2025) · Journal of Computational Social Science · doi:10.1007/s42001-024-00338-8 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“…one-dimensional conceptualizations can suffice when misinformation pertains to factually incorrect information, it is hardly applicable to more nuanced cases, for instance, the ones dealing with ontologically contested subjects, including some conspiracy theories (e.g. Harambam & Aupers, 2015).”
An inquiry into populism’s relation to science
Bellolio, C. (2022) · Politics · doi:10.1177/02633957221109541 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“The moral objection is therefore compatible with the populists’ claim that they are the ones on the side of ‘real science’: they do not oppose science but only denounce conspiratorial scientists (Diethelm and McKee, 2009; Harambam and Aupers, 2015; Machin et al., 2017).”
Science to the people: A 32-nation survey
Makarovs, K., & Achterberg, P. (2018) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/0963662517754047 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Räikkä, J., & Basham, L. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0011 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Zapp, M. (2022) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/09636625221093897 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Conspiracy Theories in Post-Soviet Russia
Yablokov, I. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0024 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Polls, Plots, and Party Politics
Enders, A. M., & Smallpage, S. M. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0020 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
RPC-Lex: A dictionary to measure German right-wing populist conspiracy discourse online
Puschmann, C., Karakurt, H., Amlinger, C., Gess, N., & Nachtwey, O. (2022) · Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies · doi:10.1177/13548565221109440 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“…the collective experience of consuming and producing/updating (i.e. ‘ prosuming ’ ) is elementary to the evolution, spread and success of conspiracy theories in an online environment (Aupers, 2012: 27; Harambam and Aupers, 2014: 471; Madisson and Ventsel, 2021: 32 – 33; Stano, 2020: 484 – 486).”
Dentith, M. R. X. (2023) · Social Epistemology · doi:10.1080/02691728.2023.2173539 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“See, for example, Husting and Orr (2007) and Harambam and Aupers (2014).”
Background(2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0001 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
The Politics of Learning from Rare Events
Rerup, C., & Zbaracki, M. (2021) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2020.1424 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
The Collective Conspiracy Mentality in Poland
Soral, W., Cichocka, A. K., Bilewicz, M., & Marchlewska, M. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0025 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Hameleers, M. (2022) · Politics and Governance · doi:10.17645/pag.v10i1.4726 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
de Oliveira, T. M., Wang, Z., & Xu, J. (2022) · Online Media and Global Communication · doi:10.1515/omgc-2022-0005 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Populism and Science in Europe
Giorgi, A., & Eslen‐Ziya, H. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97535-7_1 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Knowledge, Counter-Knowledge, Pseudo-Science in Populism
Eslen-Ziya, H. (2022) · Populism and Science in Europe · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97535-7_2 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Making UFOs make sense: Ufology, science, and the history of their mutual mistrust
Eghigian, G. A. (2015) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/0963662515617706 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“These features, of course, are the antithesis of those commonly attributed to scientific practitioners, namely the ideal of scientists as objective, levelheaded, empirically grounded materialists (Harambam and Aupers, 2015).”
BackgroundHow Conspiracy Theories Spread
DeWitt, D., Atkinson, M., & Wegner, D. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0021 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
González, P. A. (2016) · Cultural Sociology · doi:10.1177/1749975516640569 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Given the growing mistrust in the authority of modern science among the population and the broader context of epistemological insecurity (Harambam and Aupers, 2014), my motivation for pursuing this research is to understand why and how archaeology is being disputed, and the political consequences…”
BackgroundDrążkiewicz, E. (2021) · Journal for Cultural Research · doi:10.1080/14797585.2021.1886422 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Similarly, Harambam and Aupers (2015) point out that since the history of science and the individual careers of scientists have been dedicated to separating facts from other claims on truth, they do not approach conspiracy theories from a neutral standpoint.”
BackgroundWhat We Mean When We Say “Conspiracy Theory”
Walker, J. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0003 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Memes of Gandhi and Mercury in Anti-Vaccination Discourse
Buts, J. (2020) · Media and Communication · doi:10.17645/mac.v8i2.2852 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Conspiracy Theories and Religion
Robertson, D. G. C., & Dyrendal, A. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0028 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Mapping the Narrative Ecosystem of Conspiracy Theories in Online Anti-vaccination Discussions
Introne, J. E., Korsunska, A., Krsova, L., & Zhang, Z. (2020) · International Conference on Social Media and Society (SMSociety) · doi:10.1145/3400806.3400828 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Others have suggested that conspiracy theories might better be understood as a socio-political response to distant and elite power structures that control the media and scientific knowledge production [16, 27].”
BackgroundInsight in the Conspiracist’s Mind
de Cruys, S. V., Bervoets, J., Gadsby, S., Gijbels, D., & Poels, K. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/10888683231203145 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“In interviews, these people often are careful not to claim that they have all the evidence to consider their deviating beliefs as the truth; they only claim the right to engage in their own truth-seeking activities (Carrion, 2018; Harambam & Aupers, 2015; Stewart, 1999).”
BackgroundThe sociodemographic correlates of conspiracism
Enders, A. M., Klofstad, C., Diekman, A. B., Drochon, H. H., de Waal, J. R., Littrell, S., Premaratne, K., Verdear, D., Wuchty, S., & Uscinski, J. E. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-64098-1 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“…that–– at least sometimes ––beliefs in con-spiracy theories are sociologically, politically, or psychologically justified, in that historical (or even present) marginalization by social and political institutions may make conspiracy theories attractive explanations for various phenomena 81–83 .”
The battle for truth: How online newspaper commenters defend their censored expressions
Fangen, K., & Holter, C. R. (2019) · Poetics · doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2019.101423 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Similar to the conspiracy theorists studied by Harambam and Aupers (2017), our subjects have a self-understanding of being more able to take a critical stance than the majority of the population.”
ResultWood, M. J., & Douglas, K. M. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0016 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Crabu, S., Picardi, I., & Turrini, V. (2022) · Science as Culture · doi:10.1080/09505431.2022.2138309 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“In this regard, in line with a previous study on the way in which conspiracy theories dispute scientific authority (Harambam and Aupers, 2015), members of the communities scrutinized in this paper collectively engage in an effort not only to deconstruct institutional scientific claims and explanations but also to prod…”
ResultConspiracy believers claim to be free thinkers but (Under)Use advice like everyone else.
Altay, S., Nera, K., Ejaz, W., Schöpfer, C., & Tomas, F. (2023) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12655 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Rejection of the status quo: Conspiracy theories and preference for alternative political systems
Papaioannou, K., Pantazi, M., & van Prooijen, J. (2024) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12754 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Boullier, H., Kotras, B., & Siles, I. (2021) · RESET · doi:10.4000/reset.2698 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Conspiratorial thinking and foreign policy views: evidence from Central Europe
Onderčo, M., & Stoeckel, F. (2020) · Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties · doi:10.1080/17457289.2020.1814309 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“After transitioning out of socialism in 1989 and gaining independence in 1993, the country’s recent history has been marked by the attempts to enter Western-led international organizations, such as the EU and NATO.”
BackgroundInfluentialRomer, D., & Jamieson, K. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-22014-5 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Desinformação sobre o Covid-19 no WhatsApp: a pandemia enquadrada como debate político
Soares, F. B., Recuero, R., Volcan, T. D. O., Fagundes, G., & Sodré, G. (2021) · CIÊNCIA DA INFORMAÇÃO EM REVISTA · doi:10.28998/cirev.2021v8n1e · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Understanding Conspiracy Online: Social Media and the Spread of Suspicious Thinking
Mortimer, K. (2017) · Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management · doi:10.5931/djim.v13i1.6928 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“Conspiracy theorists “feel excluded, mocked, and stigmatized as “crazy” when they propose alternative ways of looking at the world” (Harambam & Aupers, 2015, pp. 474-475).”
BackgroundAtkinson, M., & DeWitt, D. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0008 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Pohjonen, M. (2022) · Popular Communication · doi:10.1080/15405702.2022.2074998 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
McKenzie-McHarg, A. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0004 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Uncertain Knowledge. Studying “Truth” and “Conspiracies” in the Digital Age
Boullier, H., Kotras, B., & Siles, I. (2021) · RESET · doi:10.4000/reset.2750 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Media Marginalization of Racial Minorities
Orr, M., & Husting, G. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0005 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
On the Democratic Problem of Conspiracy Politics
Moore, A. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0007 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Monari, A. C. P., & Sacramento, I. P. (2021) · Revista Mídia e Cotidiano · doi:10.22409/rmc.v15i3.50945 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Segundo Harambam & Aupers (2015), os adeptos das teorias da conspiração clamam pela necessidade de escolhas pessoais e para que haja uma discussão aberta com experts sobre os tópicos que desejam analisar ao invés de serem falados sobre o que fazer de forma autoritária.”
Background
- Authors
- Harambam, J., & Aupers, S.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
- KU Leuven (BE)
- Venue
- Public Understanding of Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-12-01
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 466-480
- ISSN
- 0963-6625 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6609
- OpenAlex
- W2066753585
- Cited by
- 328
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 21.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Public Understanding of Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Education, Healthcare and Sociology Research
- Keywords
- conspiracy theories, epistemic authority, boundary work, science and religion, lay knowledge, scientific expertise, power elite, knowledge contestation
- MeSH terms
- Culture, Delusions, Public Opinion, Science, Knowledge, Trust
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