Knowledge Goes Pop: From Conspiracy Theory to Gossip

by Clare Birchall

A voice on late night radio tells you that a fast food restaurant injects its food with drugs that make men impotent. A colleague asks if you think the FBI was in on 9/11. An alien abductee on the Internet claims extra-terrestrials have planted a microchip in her body. "Julia Roberts in Porn Scandal" shouts the front page of a gossip mag. A spiritual healer claims he can cure chronic fatigue syndrome with the energizing power of crystals . . . What do you believe? Knowledge Goes Pop examines the popular knowledges that saturate our everyday experience. We make this information and then it shapes the way we see the world. How valid is it when compared to official knowledge and why does such (mis)information cause so much institutional anxiety? This book examines the range of knowledge, from conspiracy theory to plain gossip, and its role and impact in our culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2006

About the author

Clare Birchall is a senior lecturer in sultural studies at Middlesex University. Birchall, who has published widely on cultural theory and cultural studies, is the author of Knowledge Goes Pop.