Conspiracy Panics: Political Rationality and Popular Culture - Softcover

Bratich, Jack Z.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791473341 ISBN 13: 9780791473344

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2008

Synopsis

Examines contemporary anxiety over the phenomenon of conspiracy theories.

While most other works focus on conspiracy theories, this book examines conspiracy panics, or the anxiety over the phenomenon of conspiracy theories. Jack Z. Bratich argues that conspiracy theories are portals into the major social issues defining U.S. and global political culture. These issues include the rise of new technologies, the social function of journalism, U.S. race relations, citizenship and dissent, globalization, biowarfare and biomedicine, and the shifting positions within the Left. Using a Foucauldian governmentality analysis, Bratich maintains that conspiracy panics contribute to a broader political rationality, a (neo)liberal strategy of governing at a distance through the use of reason. He also explores the growing popularity of 9/11 conspiracy research in terms of what he calls the "sphere of legitimate dissensus." Conspiracy Panics concludes that we are witnessing a new fusion of culture and rationality, one that is increasingly shared across the political spectrum.

About this title

About the Author

Jack Z. Bratich is Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and the coeditor (with Jeremy Packer and Cameron McCarthy) of Foucault, Cultural Studies, and Governmentality, also published by SUNY Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791473341
• ISBN 13: 9780791473344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240