A coronavirus skeptical group in Zurich in January 2022. More than 13,400 people have died from COVID-19 in Switzerland. Keystone / Walter Bieri
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Belief in conspiracy theories has markedly declined in Switzerland during the pandemic, according to a study. However, those who cling to them are likely to become more radical, one expert believes.
This content was published on July 25, 2022 – 16:15
Keystone-SDA/ts
Conspiracy theories skyrocketed during the pandemic: false claims that the coronavirus came from a biological laboratory or that Bill Gates wanted to forcefully vaccinate humanity are just two examples.
However, the assumption that the pandemic has drawn more people into the ranks of conspiracy theorists is wrong, according to a study by the Institute for Delinquency and Crime Prevention at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). .
In 2018, 36% of the Swiss still believed in conspiracy theories, according to a reportexternal link of Swiss public radio, SRF. In 2021, the proportion had dropped to 28%, where it currently remains.
The director of the ZHAW Institute, Dirk Baier, was surprised by this. “After all, in the last two years there has been a lot of discussion about conspiracy theories, which has made us think that the COVID crisis is a driver for such theories,” he told SRF.
more radical
So why has the health crisis reduced support for conspiracy theories? Baier says that, on the one hand, the conspiracy theorists who already existed took to the streets and became more visible.
On the other hand, the loud and sometimes aggressive protests seem to have had a deterrent effect on many people. The director of the ZHAW Institute claims that many people would have thought about the conspiracies more carefully and then distanced themselves from them.
Baier assumes that the percentage of people who believe in conspiracy theories will decrease even more. He believes that the remaining supporters are likely to become even more extremist and radicalized, for example in relation to eco-terrorism among the youth.
“But most of the Swiss who believe in conspiracy theories are older, insecure, have a rather pessimistic view of the world and perceive that the world is unregulated,” he says.
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