英语论文网

piracy theories the mass media has added meaning to popular culture by apparently putting encoded messages into the streaming. Secondly, the mass media has increased the popularity of conspiratorial themes by showing them in many kinds of programs and films. Lastly, due to this increased popularity, the mass media has destigmatized conspiracy theories and has made them available for a large amount of people that would not have gotten into contact with them otherwise. The analysis of the mass media was an important step to see if conspiracy theories are taken more and more seriously in our contemporary society. Most of the quoted authors claimed that in the past decades conspiracy theories have entered the mainstream. Due to this conspiracist thinking was made available to a huge audience which has lead to an increase in conspiracy culture.

Nevertheless, although there was a described shift of bringing the subculture of conspiracy theories into the mainstream media, several researches and studies have found little evidence whether there is actually an increase in people who find conspiracy theories plausible as an alternative explanation. However, most of the described sources did point out that there was an increase in media coverage of conspiratorial ideas.

Yet, in conclusion of this analysis it is still difficult to give a precise and concrete answer to the initial research hypothesis which states that: “Despite the claim of insanity, conspiracy theories have become an important part of our contemporary thinking and due to popular culture, especially the mass media, they seem to be taken more and more seriously in our contemporary society”. This analysis has shown that conspiracy theories do fulfill important functions in the people and the population. Moreover, due to the increased media coverage of conspiratorial themes they have gained a wide-ranging audience. This increased media coverage has led to a rise in people who know or who have heard of several conspiracy theories and therefore, it has become an important part of our contemporary thinking. However, whether conspiracy theories are taken more and more seriously these days is difficult to answer. Whereas some studies show that conspiracy theories do not have large support in the population other sources speak of an increased belief in conspiracist thinking. Therefore, as no clear answer can be given, the initial hypothesis is not confirmed.

However, this paper has only outlined the major aspects of a much multilayered issue. For those reasons and as a follow-up research, it would be advisable to conduct studies to actually empirically test whether people find explanations of conspiracy theories plausible or not. Moreover, in order to verify if or if not there was a rise in conspiratorial thinking it would be wise to either find a past study that has recorded these beliefs or to make a study that measures independent samples over a longer period of time in order to be able to compare.