"Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories provides a comprehensive overview of conspiracy theories as an important social, cultural and political phenomenon in contemporary life. This handbook provides the most complete analysis of the phenomenon
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to date. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It maps out the key debates, and includes chapters on the historical origins of conspiracy theories, as well as their political significance in a broad range of countries and regions. Other chapters consider the psychology and the sociology of conspiracy beliefs, in addition to their changing cultural forms, functions and modes of transmission. This handbook examines where conspiracy theories come from, who believes in them and what their consequences are." (Publisher description)
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"This article describes the precarious and sensitive relationship prisoners have with television; it focuses exclusively on the voices of male prisoners to identify how they relate to their viewing experiences within the prison space. This article foregrounds the chief emotional responses prisoners
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articulated in relation to both prison life and television; boredom, frustration, and happiness. This discussion offers readers an emotive perspective on the ‘pains of imprisonment’ (Sykes 1999). This typology has traditionally underplayed the role of affect. Like other recent prison research this paper calls for a centring of emotion to more fully understand imprisonment. Television plays an important and valuable tool for prisoners’ coping strategies. It is co-opted as a therapeutic tool or ‘protective device’ (Layder 2004:26) to mitigate against the harms of daily life and supply social and psychological nourishment within the prison space." (Abstract)
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