Conspiracy theories, with their often grotesque content, challenge us to distance ourselves and shake our heads. Nevertheless, they have a bizarre entertainment value. For those who believe them, sober reality is transformed into a captivating drama. Based on this finding, André Hoever develops an insightful perspective on the phenomenon of conspiracy theory in his cultural sociological essay. Its adherents attempt to combine an emotionalised attitude with the factual and scientific self-image of an enlightened society. They achieve this by transferring the narrative form of the thriller to reality. In this way, they become the confident heroes of a story and see themselves in a position to supposedly solve social crises better than officially recognised experts.

André Hoever is a sociologist and social pedagogue. He lives and works in Duisburg. He previously studied social pedagogy and sociology in Cologne and Berlin and was a fellow at the interdisciplinary Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotions" at the Free University of Berlin.

Philipp Wunderlich is a research associate in the EU Horizon project PLEDGE at the IPU Berlin, which analyses emotional mechanisms in "Grievance Politics". He is also a doctoral candidate in sociology at the Free University of Berlin. His PhD explores "political emotions" with a focus on the relationship between emotions and political mobilisation in the context of right-wing populism, conspiracy theories and civic engagement. His other research topics and interests include emotions and social inequalities as well as media and misinformation.