The dark side of social movements: social identity, non-conformity, and the lure of conspiracy theories

Abstract

Social change does not always equal social progress-there is a dark side of social movements. We discuss conspiracy theory beliefs - beliefs that a powerful group of people are secretly working towards a malicious goal - as one contributor to destructive social movements. Research has linked conspiracy theory beliefs to anti-democratic attitudes, prejudice and non-normative political behavior. We propose a framework to understand the motivational processes behind conspiracy theories and associated social identities and collective action. We argue that conspiracy theories comprise at least two components - content and qualities-that appeal to people differently based on their motivations. Social identity motives draw people foremost to contents of conspiracy theories while uniqueness motives draw people to qualities of conspiracy theories.