Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T09:02:41.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Part V - The Future of QAnon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2023

Edited by
Monica K. Miller
Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
Get access

Summary

A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Chapter
Information
The Social Science of QAnon
A New Social and Political Phenomenon
 , pp. 269 - 307
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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

References

Amarasingam, A., & Argentino, M.-A. (2020, August 20). The QAnon conspiracy theory: A security threat in the making? Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. https://ctc.usma.edu/the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-a-security-threat-in-the-making/Google Scholar
Anti-Defamation League. (2019, November 6). The extremist medicine cabinet: A guide to online “pills.” Anti-Defamation League. www.adl.org/blog/the-extremist-medicine-cabinet-a-guide-to-online-pillsGoogle Scholar
Argentino, M.-A. (2020, July 8). QAnon conspiracy theory followers step out of the shadows and may be headed to Congress. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/qanon-conspiracy-theory-followers-step-out-of-the-shadows-and-may-be-headed-to-congress-141581Google Scholar
Argentino, M.-A., & Amarasingam, A. (2021). They got it all under control: QAnon, conspiracy theories, and the new threats to Canadian national security. In West, L., Juneau, T., & Amarasingam, A. (Eds.), Stress tested: The COVID-19 pandemic and Canadian national security (pp. 15–32). University of Calgary Press.Google Scholar
Bainbridge, W. S., & Stark, R. (1980). Client and audience cults in America. Sociological Analysis, 41(3), 199–200.Google Scholar
Barkun, M. (2013). Culture of conspiracy: Apocalyptic visions in contemporary America. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Blazakis, J. (2021, February 21). Why QAnon’s similarity to other cults makes it a significant national security threat. Los Angeles Times. www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-21/qanon-cults-capitol-attack-trump-threatGoogle Scholar
Bloch, J., Goldhar, K., Elash, A., & Pizer, D. (2018, September 12). Escaping NXIVM: Inside the secretive world of leader Keith Raniere. CBC News. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/the-making-of-the-vanguardGoogle Scholar
Burton, T. I. (2018, July 24). Seagram’s heiress arrested for role in controversial “sex cult.” Vox News. www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/4/25/17275930/allison-mack-smallville-actress-sex-cult-nxivm-dos-prison-arrest-sex-trafficking-keith-raniereGoogle Scholar
Chidester, D. (2005). Authentic fakes: Religion and American popular culture. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, P. B. (2006). Encyclopedia of new religious movements. Routledge.Google Scholar
Clarke, P. B., & Beyer, P. (2009). The world’s religions: Continuities and transformations. Routledge.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. L. (2001). Raising Lazarus: A methodological critique of Stephen Kent’s Revival of the brainwashing model. In Zablocki, B. & Robbins, T. (Eds.), Misunderstanding cults: Searching for objectivity in a controversial field (pp. 379–400). University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, L. L. (2006). New religious movements. In Segal, R. A. (Ed.), The Blackwell companion to the study of religion (pp. 369–384). Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. L. (2013). Comprehending cults: The sociology of new religious movements. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dillon, J., & Richardson, J. (1991). A politics of representation analysis of social construction of the term “cult.” Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Conference.Google Scholar
Feltmate, D. (2016). Rethinking new religious movements beyond a social problems paradigm. Nova Religio 20(2), 82–96.Google Scholar
Franks, B., Bangerter, A., & Bauer, M. W. (2013). Conspiracy theories as quasi-religious mentality: An integrated account from cognitive science, social representations theory, and frame theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 424.Google Scholar
Freedman, M. (2003, October 13). Cult of personality. Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2019/05/15/keith-raniere-the-leader-of-the-nxivm-sex-cult/?sh=6a7987ff35a9Google Scholar
Friedberg, B. (2020, July 31). The dark virality of a Hollywood blood-harvesting conspiracy. Wired. www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-dark-virality-of-a-hollywood-blood-harvesting-conspiracy/Google Scholar
Gallagher, E. V. (2007). “Cults” and “new religious movements.” History of Religions, 47(2/3), 205–220.Google Scholar
Hassan, S. (2021, February 4). I was a member of a cult. Here’s how to bring QAnon believers back to reality. CNN. www.cnn.com/2021/02/04/perspectives/qanon-cult-truth/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, C. (2016, July 22). Disambiguating normativity. Craig Martin Blog. https://craigmartinreligion.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/disambiguating-normativity/Google Scholar
Meier, B. (2017, October 17). Inside a secretive group where women are branded. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/nyregion/nxivm-women-branded-albany.htmlGoogle Scholar
Melton, J. G. (2004). Perspective: Toward a definition of “new religion.” Nova Religio, 8(1), 73–87.Google Scholar
O’Leary, S. D. (1994). Arguing the apocalypse a theory of millennial rhetoric. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Odato, J. M., & Gish, J. (2012, February 11). Secrets of NXIVM. Times Union. www.timesunion.com/local/article/Secrets-of-NXIVM-2880885.phpGoogle Scholar
Possamai, A. (2012). Yoda goes to Glastonbury: An introduction to hyper-real religions. Brill.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (1993). Definitions of cult: From sociological-technical to popular-negative. Review of Religious Research, 34(4), 348–356.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. (2003). A critique of “brainwashing” claims about new religious movements. In Dawson, L. L. (Ed.), Cults and new religious movements: A reader (pp. 160–166). Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Robertson, D. G. (2017). The hidden hand: Why religious studies need to take conspiracy theories seriously. Religion Compass 11(3–4).Google Scholar
Robertson, D. G., Asprem, E., & Dyrendal, A. (2019). Introducing the field: Conspiracy theory in, about, and as religion. In Robertson, D. G., Asprem, E., & Dyrendal, A. (Eds.), Handbook of conspiracy theories and contemporary religion (pp. 1–20). Leiden.Google Scholar
Saliba, J. (2003). Understanding new religious movements. Altamira Press.Google Scholar
Schafer, B. (2021, July 9). China fires back at Biden with conspiracy theories about Maryland lab. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/09/china-fires-back-at-biden-with-conspiracy-theories-about-maryland-lab/Google Scholar
Schilbrack, K. (2018). Mathematics and the definitions of religion. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 83(2), 145–160.Google Scholar
Stark, R., & Bainbridge, W. S. (1985). The future of religion: Secularization, revival, and cult formation. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Uscinski, J. E., & Parent, J. M. (2014). American conspiracy theories. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

References

Alt, M. (2021, March 26). Why QAnon flopped in Japan. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/opinion/qanon-japan-janon.htmlGoogle Scholar
Amarasingam, A., & Argentino, M.-A. (2020, October 28). QAnon’s predictions haven’t come true: So how does the movement survive the failure of prophecy? Religion Dispatches. https://religiondispatches.org/qanons-predictions-havent-come-true-so-how-does-the-movement-survive-the-failure-of-prophecy/Google Scholar
Argentino, M.-A. (2020a, May 18). The church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-church-of-qanon-will-conspiracy-theories-form-the-basis-of-a-new-religious-movement-137859Google Scholar
Argentino, M.-A. (2020b, May 28). In the name of the Father, Son, and Q: Why it’s important to see QAnon as a “hyper-real religion.” Religion Dispatches. https://religiondispatches.org/in-the-name-of-the-father-son-and-q-why-its-important-to-see-qanon-as-a-hyper-real-religion/Google Scholar
Becket, L. (2020, October 16). QAnon: A timeline of violence linked to the conspiracy theory. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/15/qanon-violence-crimes-timelineGoogle Scholar
Benford, R. D., & Snow, D. A. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogle, A. (2020, June 15). How Instagram wellness became a gateway drug for conspiracy theories. ABC News. www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-06-16/wellness-instagram-influencers-veer-into-conspiracy-theories/12348776Google Scholar
Bond, S. (2021, January 31). Unwelcome on Facebook and Twitter, QAnon followers flock to fringe sites. NPR. www.npr.org/2021/01/31/962104747/unwelcome-on-facebook-twitter-qanon-followers-flock-to-fringe-sitesGoogle Scholar
Byrnes, J., & Marcos, C. (2021, January 6). Pro-Trump mob overruns Capitol, forcing evacuation. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/532951-pro-trump-protestors-overrun-capitol-forcing-evacuationGoogle Scholar
Castells, M. (2015). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the internet age (2nd ed., enlarged and updated). Polity Press.Google Scholar
Dias, E., & Graham, R. (2021, January 11). How white evangelical Christians fused with Trump extremism. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/how-white-evangelical-christians-fused-with-trump-extremism.htmlGoogle Scholar
Djupe, P. A., & Burge, A. (2020, November 6). A conspiracy at the heart of it: Religion and Q. Religion in Public. https://religioninpublic.blog/2020/11/06/a-conspiracy-at-the-heart-of-it-religion-and-q/Google Scholar
Farivar, M. (2020, August 15). How the QAnon conspiracy theory went global. VOA News. www.voanews.com/usa/how-qanon-conspiracy-theory-went-globalGoogle Scholar
Festinger, L., Rieken, H., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, D., Donohue, J. K., Goldenberg, A., Baumgartner, J., Farmer, J., Zannettou, S., & Blackburn, J. (2020). Covid-19, conspiracy and contagious sedition: A case study on the militia-sphere. A Report by the Rutgers Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience and the Network Contagion Research Institute. https://networkcontagion.us/reports/covid-19-conspiracy-and-contagious-sedition-a-case-study-on-the-militia-sphere/Google Scholar
Fuller, M. (2021, January 12). House Democrats briefed on 3 terrifying plots to overthrow government. HuffPost. www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-briefed-plot-overthrow-government_n_5ffd29a4c5b691806c4bf199Google Scholar
Gjelten, T. (2021, January 19). Militant Christian nationalists remain a potent force, even after the Capitol riot. NPR. www.npr.org/2021/01/19/958159202/militant-christian-nationalists-remain-a-potent-forceGoogle Scholar
Graphika (2021, January 22). DisQualified: Network impact of Twitter’s latest QAnon enforcement. Graphika. https://graphika.com/posts/disqualified-network-impact-of-twitters-latest-qanon-enforcement/Google Scholar
Harwell, D., & Timberg, C. (2020, November 10). “My faith is shaken”: The QAnon conspiracy theory faces a post-Trump identity crisis. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/10/qanon-identity-crisis/Google Scholar
Harwell, D., Stanley-Becker, I., Nakhlawi, R., & Timberg, C. (2021, January 13). QAnon reshaped Trump’s party and radicalized believers. The Capitol siege may just be the start. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/13/qanon-capitol-siege-trump/Google Scholar
Ingersoll, J. (2017). Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the world of Christian reconstruction. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ingram, M. (2020, August 13). The QAnon cult is growing and the media is helping. Columbia Journalism Review. www.cjr.org/the_media_today/the-qanon-conspiracy-cult-is-growing-and-the-media-is-helping.phpGoogle Scholar
John, T. (2020, July 30). A baseless US conspiracy theory found a foothold in Europe. New research shows how. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/30/tech/qanon-europe-covid-intl/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. G. (2018, November 7). The rise and of far-right extremism in the United States. Center for Strategic & International Studies Brief. www.csis.org/analysis/rise-far-right-extremism-united-statesGoogle Scholar
Juergensmeyer, M. (2017). Terror in the mind of God: The global rise of religious violence (4th ed.). University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kanno-Youngs, Z., Tavernise, S., & Cochrane, E. (2021, January 6). As House was breached, a fear that “we’d have to fight” to get out. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/capitol-breach-trump-protests.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=HomepageGoogle Scholar
Kristian, B. (2020). Is QAnon the newest American religion? The Week. https://theweek.com/articles/915522/qanon-newest-american-religionGoogle Scholar
Labbe, C., Padovese, V., Richter, M., & Harling, A.-S. (2020). QAnon’s Deep State conspiracies spread to Europe. NewsGuard. www.newsguardtech.com/special-report-qanon/Google Scholar
LaFrance, A. (2020, May 13). The prophecies of Q: American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/Google Scholar
Lepselter, S. (2016). The resonance of unseen things: Poetics, power, captivity, and UFOs in the American uncanny. University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ling, J. (2021, January 6). QAnon is Trumpism now. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/06/qanon-q-trump-republican-party-election/Google Scholar
Mezzofiore, G., Polglase, K., Lister, T., Pleitgen, F., Croker, N., & Hernandez, S. (2020, October 7). “It’s like a parasite”: How a dangerous virtual cult is going global. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/07/tech/qanon-europe-cult-intl/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Moscovici, S. (1987). The conspiracy mentality. In Graumann, C. F. & Moscovici, S. (Eds.), Changing conceptions of conspiracy (pp. 151–169). Springer.Google Scholar
O’Conner, C., Gatewood, C., McDonald, K., & Brandt, S. (2020). The boom before the ban: QAnon and Facebook. A Report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and NewsGuard. www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20201218-ISDG-NewsGuard-QAnon-and-Facebook.pdfGoogle Scholar
O’Donnell, S. J. (2020, September 12). Demons of the Deep State: How evangelicals and conspiracy theories combine in Trump’s America. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/demons-of-the-deep-state-how-evangelicals-and-conspiracy-theories-combine-in-trumps-america-144898Google Scholar
Papacharissi, Z. (2014). Affective publics: Sentiment, technology, and politics. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Possamai, A. (2005). Religion and popular culture: A hyper-real testament. Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Possamai, A. (2012). Handbook of hyper-real religions. Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Possamai, A. (2018). The I-zation of society, religion, and neoliberal post-secularism. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Possamai, A., & Lee, M. (2011). Hyper-real religions: Fear, anxiety, and late modern religious innovation. Journal of Sociology, 47(3), 227–242.Google Scholar
Rauhala, E., & Morris, L. (2020, November 13). In the United States, QAnon is struggling. The conspiracy theory is thriving abroad. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/world/qanon-conspiracy-global-reach/2020/11/12/ca312138-13a5-11eb-a258-614acf2b906d_story.htmlGoogle Scholar
Rogers, K. (2021, March 26). QAnon has become the cult that cries wolf. FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanon-has-become-the-cult-that-cries-wolf/Google Scholar
Rogers, R. (2020). Deplatforming: Following extreme internet celebrities to Telegram and alternative social media. European Journal of Communication, 35(3), 213–229.Google Scholar
Rotella, S. (2021, January 22). Global right-wing extremism networks are growing. The U.S. is just now catching up. ProPublica. www.propublica.org/article/global-right-wing-extremism-networks-are-growing-the-u-s-is-just-now-catching-upGoogle Scholar
Snow, D. (2004). Framing process, ideology, and discursive fields. In Snow, D., Soule, S., & Kriesi, H. (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 380–412). Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, D., Rochford, E. B., Jr., Worden, S., & Benford, R. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review, 51(4), 464–481.Google Scholar
Spocchia, G. (2021, January 26) QAnon merges with white extremists and spreads new conspiracy Trump will be president again on March 4. Yahoo News. https://news.yahoo.com/qanon-merges-white-extremists-spreads-135605633.htmlGoogle Scholar
Stone, J. (2000). Expecting Armageddon: Essential readings in failed prophecy. Routledge.Google Scholar
Tasker, J. P. (2020, October 20). PM, health officials warn Canadians against believing COVID-19 “internment camps” disinformation. CBC News. www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-19-internment-camps-disinformation-1.5769592Google Scholar
Taylor, M., & Colbert, M. (2017). The Trump prophecies. Defender.Google Scholar
Taylor, V. (1989). Social movement continuity: The women’s movement in abeyance. American Sociological Review 54(5), 761–775.Google Scholar
Thompson, N. (2021, January 13). What drives “J-Anon,” QAnon’s Japanese counterpart? GlobalVoices. https://globalvoices.org/2021/01/13/what-drives-j-anon-qanons-japanese-counterpart/Google Scholar
Tiffany, K. (2020, August 18). The women making conspiracy theories beautiful. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/08/how-instagram-aesthetics-repackage-qanon/615364/Google Scholar
Timberg, C., Harwell, D., & Lang, M. J. (2021, January 9). Capitol siege was planned online. Trump supporters now planning the next one. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/09/trump-twitter-protests/Google Scholar
Tumminia, D., & Swatos, W. H. (2011). How prophecy lives. Brill.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, J.-W., & Douglas, K. M. (2017). Conspiracy theories as part of history: The role of societal crisis situations. Memory Studies, 10(3), 323–333.Google Scholar
Waldman, P. (2021, January 20). QAnon is mortally wounded. But the right’s conspiracy theories will never die. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/20/qanon-is-mortally-wounded-rights-conspiracy-theories-will-never-die/Google Scholar
Walker, J. (2021). Conspirituality.net. Keynote Panel 2 at (Con)spirituality, Science and COVID-19 Colloquium, Deakin University and Western Sydney University, March 26.Google Scholar
Ward, C., & Voas, D. (2011). The emergence of conspirituality. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 26(1), 103–121.Google Scholar
Wright, S. A. (2009). Martyrs and martial images: The volatile link between warfare frames and religious violence. In Shterin, M. & Al-Rasheed, M. (Eds.), Dying for faith: Religiously motivated violence in the contemporary world. I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, E., & Rajendra-Nicolucci, C. (2021, January 11). Deplatforming our way to the alt-tech ecosystem. Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University. https://knightcolumbia.org/content/deplatforming-our-way-to-the-alt-tech-ecosystemGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • The Future of QAnon
  • Edited by Monica K. Miller, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Book: The Social Science of QAnon
  • Online publication: 14 September 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052061.021
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The Future of QAnon
  • Edited by Monica K. Miller, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Book: The Social Science of QAnon
  • Online publication: 14 September 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052061.021
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Future of QAnon
  • Edited by Monica K. Miller, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Book: The Social Science of QAnon
  • Online publication: 14 September 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052061.021
Available formats
×