Conspiracy or Incompetence? The Resolution of Inconsistencies in Discourses about Covid-19

This article shows that analyzing how incoherence is resolved in discourse makes it possible to identify clues revealing the “conspiracy” nature of a specific discourse and to distinguish it from a “non-conspiracy” one. It examines some of the main defining features of “conspiracism” in the scientific literature and, based on the analysis of three case studies drawn from interviews with people opposed to the French health policy during the Covid-19 crisis, shows how these features can be echoed in certain forms of resolution of incoherence in discourse. The study reveals that some elements of conspiracy rhetoric can function more as an occasional, or even opportunistic, strategy, than a total and systematic worldview.