@article{THESIS,
      recid = {4151},
      author = {Taewon, Min},
      title = {The Method in Madness: A Processual Account of a South  Korean Conspiracy Theory “Community”},
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {M.A.},
      address = {2022-08},
      number = {THESIS},
      abstract = {Why did the South Korean conspiracy theory on the 2020  general election fail to garner political influence like  QAnon and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories? This paper  argues that answering this question requires a processual  approach to social phenomena. Appreciating a conspiracy  theory “community” as a gathering of multiple entities  constantly recreated in relation to others is crucial for  explaining the failure of the Wuhan Gallery, a South Korean  “community” that gave birth to the conspiracy theory. Even  though the claims of election fraud gained traction after  the landslide loss, other South Korean online “communities”  criticized the conspiracy theory and engaged with the Wuhan  Gallery with mockery involving rhetoric against the  elderly. Wuhan Gallery responded by banning users that  seemingly came from other “communities” as trolls, which  hindered different readings of the conspiracy theory and  its relationship with politicians. Critics of conservative  YouTubers and politicians were stigmatized as trolls,  making the conspiracy theory on the election fraud no  different from failed conspiracy theories of the past. The  result of the research implies that the conspiracy theory  “community,” as well as discourse on conspiracy theory, was  constantly shifting over time and that social factors play  a crucial role in the rise or fall of a conspiracy theory.  Furthermore, the trajectory of the conspiracy theory  “community” demonstrates how users in South Korean  cyberspace constantly misrecognize what is taking place by  neglecting the processual character of the internet and  social entities and underlines the importance of a  processual approach in social sciences.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/4151},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.4151},
}