1. The Temptation of Conspiracy Theory, or: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Part I: Preliminary Draft of a Theory of Conspiracy Theories.- Initial Approach to a Definition of the Term.- Are Adherents of Conspiracy Theories Paranoid?.- Conspiracy Theory Constructs in the Science of History.- Universal-Historical Phases or a Universal-Historical Caesura in the 18th Century?.- 2. The Temptation of Conspiracy Theory, or: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Part II: Case Studies.- The “Jewish Conspiracy” in the Late Middle Ages.- Witch Pattern and Witch-Hunt.- The “Conspirations” of Rebellious Peasants in the 17th and 18th Centuries.- The Famine Plot “Persuasion” in 18th century France.- The French Revolution: A Conspiracy Against State and Religion.- Counter Revolution and the Boom in Conspiracy Theories.- The “Testament” of Peter the Great: The First Fabrication of a Conspiracy Theory.- The Secular Boom Infects a Representative of a Structural History Theory: Karl Marx and the Russian Design to Overthrow Europe.- The Theory of Labor-Aristocracy: Conspiracy Theory in the Realm of Materialist Theory of History.- The “Dagger Legend” in Post-War Germany.- 3. “Man-Eating” and the Myths of the “New World” — Anthropological, Pictorial, and Literary Variants.- 4. Demoniac Conspiracy.- 5. The Conspiratorial Imperative: Medieval Jewry in Western Europe.- The Conspiratorial Imperative.- The Conspiratorial Imperium.- 6. The Topic of the Jewish Conspiracy in Russia (1905–1920), and the International Consequences.- 7. Anti-Semitic Themes and the British Far Left: Some Social-Psychological Observations on Indirect Aspects of the Conspiracy Tradition.- On the Jewish Question.- Nation, Religion, and Judaism.- Anti-Semitism and Nazism.-Left-Wing Themes and Conspiracy.- 8. Social Conflict and Conspiracy in Nuremberg 1789–1797.- 9. The Conspiracy Mentality.- The Hand of the Stranger.- A Modern Mentality and Its Principal Characteristics.- Hostility Toward and Fear of Minorities.- The Conspiracy Mentality and Resentment.- Remarks on Resentment and Its Consequences.- Conspiracy as Strategy and Means to Mobilize the Masses.- Conclusion.- 10. Paranoic Conspiratory Delusion.- Kraepelin and Freud.- The Experience of Reality and the Cathexis of the Outside World.- Paranoic Conspiracy Delusion as a Local and Partial Dissociation of Cathexis.- Natural Obviousness, Trust, Cooperation, and Division of Labor.- Cathexis Hole and Cathexis Fillings.- The Economy of Cathexis: Amount, Covering, Metabolism.- Outlook.- 11. Conspiracy Theory in Conflict Escalation.- The Neighborhood Controversy.- The Crisis at UB.- The Process of Escalation.- Impact of Conspiracy Theory on Conflict.- Origins of Conspiracy Theory in Conflict.- Conclusions.- 12. Self/Other Relations and the Social Nature of Reality.- The Ideology of Success and Failure in Certain Western Cultures.- The Nature of Social and of Optical Illusions.- Heider’s Naive Psychology of Interpersonal Relations.- 13. Blame-Placing Schemata and Attributional Research.- The Psychological Interest of Conspiracy Theories.- The Attribution Paradigm in Social Psychology.- Research on Defensive Attributional Tendencies.- Informational and Motivational Influences on Attributions: Disjunctive Versus Conjunctive Interpretations.- Conspiracy Theories: Truth or Illusion?.- Research on Attributional Errors.- Exchanging People’s Biases: The Theory of Lay Epistemology.- The Epistemic Process and Conspiracy Theories.- Conclusions.- 14. Extremist Political Positions and Perceptionsof Conspiracy: Even Paranoids Have Real Enemies.- Societal Trust and the Rise of Postmaterialism.- Conclusion.- 15. Conspiracy: History and Social Psychology—A Synopsis.- Makers and Movers.- The Structure and Dynamics of Attributing Conspiracy.- Crowd Mind, Leadership, and Conspiracy.- Author Index.
Dieter Möckelmann€ 16,95
