Relational Approach to the QAnon Movement : The Hidden Pandemic

QAnon can no longer be treated as a ‘fringe issue’ but must be considered a far-reaching social problem. In this crucial contribution to our understanding of how family relationships and dynamics deal with and are affected by conspiratorial beliefs, Mulcahy and Simpson explore how the social and relational consequences of QAnon belief affect both individuals and communities.

Through a feminist, relational lens and drawing on data from a digital ethnography of the Subreddit forum ‘QAnonCasualties’, A Relational Approach to the QAnon Movement: The Hidden Pandemic addresses a gap in current research by providing a much-needed analysis of the unheard voices and experiences of the primary social networks of QAnon believers (e.g., family, partners, friends etc.), exploring the impact such conspiratorial theories have on the lives of ‘outgroup’ members and their relationships with their loved ones. By doing so, it sheds light on the unacknowledged and far-reaching consequences of conspiratorial belief more generally. The experiences of QAnon believers’ friends and families provide a unique perspective on the journey towards conspiratorial belief and political polarisation, as they watch (and react to) the process in real time. This also allows for the identification of push and pull factors relating to the QAnonCasualties and their ‘Q’s as they negotiate their relationships.

Through investigating the banality of the everyday experiences of those affected, the authors create space for the emergence of social responses to redress what has become a wicked social problem that requires a multifaceted, holistic and empathetic approach to solving it.