"Gateway Conspiracy”: Distrust of the COVID-19 pandemic as a gateway to conspiracy theories.

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.188.145-164

Keywords:

Network Analysis, Big Data , Misinformation, Social Networks, Sociology, Conspiracy Theories, Twitter

Abstract

The article examines how distrust towards the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for the diffusion of conspiracy theories. It discusses the nature of conspiracy theories, their relationship to institutional distrust, and their representation in social media. The study's methodology includes analyzing hashtags from over two million tweets, through network analysis, in order to understand how different conspiracy theories relate to each other and how certain theories act as "gateways" to others. The findings suggest that there are logical connections between different conspiracy theories, influenced by distrust towards specific institutions and amplified by the COVID-19 crisis. It concludes that the combination of conspiracy theories is not random, but follows an internal logic based on distrust, since they are interconnected in an internally coherent way in the context of the pandemic.

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Author Biographies

Alba Taboada-Villamarín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Alba Taboada es graduada en Sociología por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y obtuvo su Máster en Big Data Science en la Universidad de Navarra. Investiga e imparte docencia en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid como contratada predoctoral (FPI) donde realiza su tesis doctoral en Big Data, Inteligencia Artificial y Ciencias Sociales. Su investigación se centra en nuevos enfoques metodológicos utilizando datos masivos y Machine Learning aplicados a las Ciencias Sociales. Sus intereses incluyen temas como salud, discursos de odio en línea, fake news, teorías de la conspiración, desconfianza en sistemas científicos y COVID-19, así como estudios de ciencia, tecnología y sociedad. Obtuvo la Beca de formación  en el Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) promoción 2022. Actualmente trabaja activamente en  dos proyectos de investigación financiados por el Plan Nacional de I+D.

Cristóbal Torres-Albero

Cristóbal Torres Albero es catedrático de universidad y director del Departamento de Sociología de la Autónoma de Madrid. Su campo de trabajo académico habitual es el análisis del conjunto de fenómenos sociales asociados al actual desarrollo de la sociedad de la información y del conocimiento. Sobre estas cuestiones ha publicado una docena de libros en las principales editoriales españolas en ciencias sociales (Alianza Universidad, Siglo XXI, CIS), entre los que sobresalen la edición de obras de referencia como el Diccionario de Sociología publicado por Alianza Editorial o España 2015. Situación social editado por el CIS, que recibió el premio al mejor libro de ciencias sociales en los XIX (2016) Premios Nacionales de Edición Universitaria (UNE). También es autor de más de cien artículos, capítulos de libros o workings papers publicados en revistas o editoriales nacionales e internacionales, incluyendo prestigiosas revistas indexadas en el Journal Citation Report y en Scopus.

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Published

2024-10-01

How to Cite

Taboada-Villamarín, A., Romero-Reche, A., & Torres-Albero, C. (2024). "Gateway Conspiracy”: Distrust of the COVID-19 pandemic as a gateway to conspiracy theories. Revista Española De Investigaciones Sociológicas, (188), 145–164. https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.188.145-164

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No. 188 (2024)

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Articles

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