Soros, Schwab and Conservatives: Conspiracy Theories from Local to Global Levels

Karolis Jonutis
Institute of Sociology and Social Work at Vilnius University

One of the main tasks of conspiracy theories is to explain the us surrounding world – to find those guilty of the various societal problems. Although the definition of conspiracy theories implies that given answers are unrealistic, however that nevertheless indicates that for the part of the society the problems considered are important. That means that although the solutions are not realistic, the problems are still relevant to society. To shape such a discourse two main strategies are possible: connecting local problems with global conspiracy theories or politicizing or actualizing local events through global conspiracy theories. This presentation is dedicated to analysis of these processes. Lithuanian Facebook groups dedicated to conspiracy theories (e.g., “no to Soros in Lithuania”) are researched, using the discourse analysis method.