Conspiracy theories through the lens of collective memory

While conspiracy theories (CTs) are often treated as consequences of cognitive deficits, this article approaches them as cultural tools through which individuals and groups make sense of uncertainty, threat, and their place in society. Drawing on a collective memory approach, we trace how CTs emerge from and contribute to historically embedded meaning-making processes and outline three interrelated connections between CTs and collective memory: 1) they are often forged during crises as narrative responses to disruption that become part of collective memory; 2) they draw on long-standing intergroup histories of distrust shaped by conflict, marginalization, and institutional betrayal; and 3) they repurpose enduring cultural symbols and narrative templates that lend coherence to new claims.