Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:13:22.515Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religious and conspiracist? An analysis of the relationship between the dimensions of individual religiosity and belief in a big pharma conspiracy theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2021

Riccardo Ladini Open the ORCID record for Riccardo Ladini [Opens in a new window]
Riccardo Ladini*
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Via Conservatorio 7, 20122Milano, Italy
*
Corresponding author. Email: riccardo.ladini@unimi.it
Get access

Abstract

In the increasing scholars' attention to factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, religiosity has been under-investigated, at least in empirical research. This study aims to address the issue by analysing to what extent and in which forms individual religiosity is associated with conspiracy beliefs. Religion and conspiracy theories could show both similarities and dissimilarities. First, as alternative religiosity and conspiracy theories tend to spread knowledge stigmatized by the authorities, we expect that alternative religious beliefs are positively associated with conspiracy beliefs. Second, as religion and conspiracy theories explain events with the agency of invisible forces and detect patterns in nature, also conventional religious beliefs are supposed to be positively associated with conspiracy beliefs. Third, church attendance is hypothesized to discourage conspiracy beliefs, as exposure to religious authorities could deter the adhesion to unofficial narratives. By employing data coming from the Italian joint edition of the European Values Study–World Values Survey 2018, the paper tests the hypotheses by analysing the association between the multiple dimensions of individual religiosity and belief in a conspiracy theory on pharmaceutical companies. Results show that, after controlling for confidence in political and religious institutions and attitudes towards science, only alternative religious beliefs, here measured by belief in the reincarnation, are positively associated with belief in the big pharma conspiracy theory. Empirical evidence suggests taking caution when looking at similarities between conventional religiosity and conspiracy beliefs.

Keywords

religiosityconspiracy beliefsbig pharmaItalyEuropean Values StudyWorld Values Survey
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 33 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allport, GW and Ross, JM (1967) Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 5, 432–443.10.1037/h0021212CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Asprem, E and Dyrendal, A (2015) Conspirituality reconsidered: how surprising and how new is the confluence of spirituality and conspiracy theory? Journal of Contemporary Religion 30, 367–382.10.1080/13537903.2015.1081339CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahr, HM and Martin, TK (1983) ‘And thy neighbor as thyself’: self-esteem and faith in people as correlates of religiosity and family solidarity among Middletown high school students. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 22, 132–144.10.2307/1385673CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakshy, E, Messing, S and Adamic, LA (2015) Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook. Science 348, 1130–1132.10.1126/science.aaa1160CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barkun, M (2003) A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/california/9780520238053.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, D, Morgan, K, Towell, T, Altemeyer, B and Swami, V (2014) Associations between schizotypy and belief in conspiracist ideation. Personality and Individual Differences 70, 156–159.10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biolcati, F and Ladini, R. (2020) Nota metodologica: European Values Study - World Values Survey Italia 2018. In Biolcati, F, Rovati, G and Segatti, P (eds). Come cambiano gli italiani: Valori e atteggiamenti dagli anni Ottanta a oggi. Bologna: il Mulino, pp. 339–344.Google Scholar
Blaskiewicz, R (2013) The big pharma conspiracy theory. Medical Writing 22, 259–261.10.1179/2047480613Z.000000000142CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brotherton, R, French, CC and Pickering, AD (2013) Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: the generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Frontiers in Psychology 4, 1–15.10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, C (1972) The cult, the cultic milieu and secularisation. Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain 5, 119–36.Google Scholar
Castanho-Silva, BF, Vegetti, F and Littvay, L (2017) The elite is up to something: exploring the relation between populism and belief in conspiracy theories. Swiss Political Science Review 23, 423–443.10.1111/spsr.12270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, E (2018). Are the religious suspicious of science? Investigating religiosity, religious context, and orientations towards science. Public Understanding of Science 27, 967–984.10.1177/0963662518781231CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornwall, M, Albrecht, SL, Cunningham, PH and Pitcher, BL (1986) The dimensions of religiosity: a conceptual model with an empirical test. Review of Religious Research 27, 226–244.10.2307/3511418CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, H, Neave, N and Holmes, J (2011) Belief in conspiracy theories. The role of paranormal belief, paranoid ideation and schizotypy. Personality and Individual Differences 50, 1289–1293.10.1016/j.paid.2011.02.027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas, KM, Uscinski, JE, Sutton, RM, Cichocka, A, Nefes, T, Ang, CS and Deravi, F (2019) Understanding conspiracy theories. Political Psychology 40, 3–35.10.1111/pops.12568CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyrendal, A, Asprem, E and Robertson, DG (2018) Conspiracy theories and the study of religion(s): What we are talking about, and why it is important. In Asprem, E, Dyrendal, A and Robertson, DG (eds), Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion, Leiden: Brill, pp. 21–47.10.1163/9789004382022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edy, JA and Risley-Baird, EE (2016) Rumor communities: the social dimensions of internet political misperceptions. Social Science Quarterly 97, 588–602.10.1111/ssqu.12309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, KL and Glick, DM (2015) Do I think BLS data are BS? The consequences of conspiracy theories. Political Behavior 37, 679–701.10.1007/s11109-014-9287-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, D and Bentall, RP (2017) The concomitants of conspiracy concerns. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 52, 595–604.10.1007/s00127-017-1354-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garrett, RK (2011) Troubling consequences of online political rumoring. Human Communication Research 37, 255–274.10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01401.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glendinning, T (2006) Religious involvement, conventional Christian, and unconventional nonmaterialist beliefs. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45, 585–595.10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00329.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glock, CY and Stark, R (1965). Religion and Society in Tension. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company.Google Scholar
Goertzel, T (1994) Belief in conspiracy theories. Political Psychology 11, 731–742.10.2307/3791630CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golec de Zavala, A and Cichocka, A (2012) Collective narcissism and anti-Semitism in Poland. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 15, 213–229.10.1177/1368430211420891CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granqvist, P and Hagekull, B (2001) Seeking security in the new age: on attachment and emotional compensation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40, 527–545.10.1111/0021-8294.00075CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houtman, D and Aupers, S (2007) The spiritual turn and the decline of tradition: the spread of post-Christian spirituality in 14 Western countries, 1981–2000. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 46, 305–320.10.1111/j.1468-5906.2007.00360.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houtman, D and Mascini, P (2002) Why do churches become empty, while New Age grows? Secularization and religious change in the Netherlands. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41, 455–473.10.1111/1468-5906.00130CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jasinskaja-Lahti, I and Jetten, J (2019) Unpacking the relationship between religiosity and conspiracy beliefs in Australia. British Journal of Social Psychology 58, 938–954.10.1111/bjso.12314CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jolley, D and Douglas, KM (2014 a) The effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on vaccination intentions. PLoS ONE 9, e89177, 1–9.10.1371/journal.pone.0089177CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jolley, D and Douglas, KM (2014 b) The social consequences of conspiracism: exposure to conspiracy theories decreases intentions to engage in politics and to reduce one's carbon footprint. British Journal of Psychology 105, 35–56.10.1111/bjop.12018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kay, AC, Gaucher, D, McGregor, I and Nash, K (2010) Religious belief as compensatory control. Personality and Social Psychology Review 14, 37–48.10.1177/1088868309353750CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keeley, BL (2018) Is belief in providence the same as belief in conspiracy?. In Asprem, E, Dyrendal, A and Robertson, DG (eds), Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion. Leiden: Brill, pp. 70–86.Google Scholar
Lantian, A, Muller, D, Nurra, C and Douglas, KM (2016) Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: validation of a French and English single-item scale. International Review of Social Psychology 29, 1–14.10.5334/irsp.8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leman, PJ and Cinnirella, M (2013). Beliefs in conspiracy theories and the need for cognitive closure. Frontiers in Psychology 4, 1–10.10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00378CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mancosu, M, Vassallo, S and Vezzoni, C (2017) Believing in conspiracy theories: evidence from an exploratory analysis of Italian survey data. South European Society and Politics 22, 327–344.10.1080/13608746.2017.1359894CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancosu, M, Ladini, R and Vassallo, S (2021) Political consequences of conspiratorial thinking: evidence from 2016 Italian constitutional referendum. Acta Politica 52, 69–88.10.1057/s41269-019-00146-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marien, S (2011) Measuring political trust across time and space. In Hooghe, M and Zmerli, S (eds). Political Trust: Why Context Matters. Colchester: ECPR Press, pp. 13–46.Google Scholar
Nicolet, S and Tresch, A (2009) Changing religiosity, changing politics? The influence of ‘belonging’ and ‘believing’ on political attitudes in Switzerland. Politics and Religion 2, 76–99.10.1017/S1755048309000042CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbet, MC, Scheufele, DA, Shanahan, J, Moy, P, Brossard, D and Lewenstein, BV (2002). Knowledge, reservations, or promise? A media effects model for public perceptions of science and technology. Communication Research 29, 584-608.10.1177/009365002236196CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norman, G (2010) Likert scales, levels of measurement and the ‘laws’ of statistics. Advances in Health Sciences Education 15, 625–632.10.1007/s10459-010-9222-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oliver, JE and Wood, TJ (2014 a) Conspiracy theories and the paranoid style(s) of mass opinion. American Journal of Political Science 58, 952–966.10.1111/ajps.12084CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, JE and Wood, TJ (2014 b) Medical conspiracy theories and health behaviors in the United States. JAMA Internal Medicine 174, 817–818.10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.190CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orenstein, A (2002) Religion and paranormal belief. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41, 301–311.10.1111/1468-5906.00118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, DG (2017) The hidden hand: why religious studies need to take conspiracy theories seriously. Religion Compass 11, e12233, 1–8.10.1111/rec3.12233CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, DG, Asprem, E and Dyrendal, A (2018) Introducing the field: Conspiracy theory in, about, and as religion. In Asprem, E, Dyrendal, A and Robertson, DG (eds), Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion, Leiden: Brill, pp. 1–18.Google Scholar
Rutjens, BT and Kay, AC (2017) Compensatory control theory and the psychological importance of perceiving order. In Bukowski, M, Fritsche, I, Guinote, A and Kofta, M (eds), Coping with Lack of Control in a Social World, London: Routledge, pp. 83–96.Google Scholar
Siegers, P (2013) Reincarnation revisited: question format and the distribution of belief in reincarnation in survey research. Survey Methods: Insights from the Field 11, 1–11.Google Scholar
Siegers, P (2019) Is the influence of religiosity on attitudes and behaviors stronger in less religious or more religious societies? A review of theories and contradictory evidence. KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 71, 491–517.10.1007/s11577-019-00610-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolz, J (2009) Explaining religiosity: towards a unified theoretical model. The British Journal of Sociology 60, 345–376.10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01234.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sturm, T and Albrecht, T (2020) Constituent Covid-19 apocalypses: contagious conspiracism, 5G, and viral vaccinations. Anthropology & Medicine, 1–18. Online first. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13648470.2020.1833684Google Scholar
Swami, V (2012) Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories: the case of the Jewish conspiracy theory in Malaysia. Frontiers in Psychology 3, 1–9.10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00280CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swami, V, Coles, R, Stieger, S, Pietschnig, J, Furnham, A, Rehim, S and Voracek, M (2011) Conspiracist ideation in Britain and Austria: evidence of a monological belief system and associations between individual psychological differences and real-world and fictitious conspiracy theories. British Journal of Psychology 102, 443–463.10.1111/j.2044-8295.2010.02004.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uscinski, JE and Parent, JM (2014) American Conspiracy Theories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351800.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uscinski, JE, Klofstad, C and Atkinson, MD (2016) What drives conspiratorial beliefs? The role of informational cues and predispositions. Political Research Quarterly 69, 57–71.10.1177/1065912915621621CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaccari, C, Valeriani, A, Barberá, P, Jost, JT, Nagler, J and Tucker, JA (2016) Of echo chambers and contrarian clubs: exposure to political disagreement among German and Italian users of twitter. Social Media + Society 2, 1–24.10.1177/2056305116664221CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Linden, S (2015) The conspiracy-effect: exposure to conspiracy theories (about global warming) decreases pro-social behavior and science acceptance. Personality and Individual Differences, 87, 171–173.10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.045CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Prooijen, JW (2017) Why education predicts decreased belief in conspiracy theories. Applied Cognitive Psychology 31, 50–58.10.1002/acp.3301CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Prooijen, JW, Krouwel, APM and Pollet, TV (2015) Political extremism predicts belief in conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science 6, 570–578.10.1177/1948550614567356CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vezzoni, C and Biolcati Rinaldi, F (2015) Church attendance and religious change in Italy, 1968–2010: a multilevel analysis of pooled datasets. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 54, 100–118.10.1111/jssr.12173CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Stuckrad, K (2005) Western esotericism: towards an integrative model of interpretation. Religion 35, 78–97.10.1016/j.religion.2005.07.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, C and Voas, D (2011) The emergence of conspirituality. Journal of Contemporary Religion 26, 103–121.10.1080/13537903.2011.539846CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, M and Douglas, KM (2018) Are conspiracy theories a surrogate for God?. In Asprem, E, Dyrendal, A and Robertson, DG (eds), Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion. Leiden: Brill, pp. 87–105Google Scholar
Wood, MJ, Douglas, KM and Sutton, RM (2012) Dead and alive: beliefs in conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science 3, 767–773.10.1177/1948550611434786CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Ladini Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZZ2OSW
Link
Supplementary material: File

Ladini supplementary material

Ladini supplementary material
Download Ladini supplementary material(File)
File 14.6 KB