Jennifer Hochschild and David Beavers on Covid Conspiracy Theories

We are joined this episode by Jennifer Hochschild and David Beavers, both of Harvard University.  

Jennifer Hochschild is the Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. Her recent books include Genomic Politics: How the Revolution in Genomic Science Is Shaping American Society (2021) and Do Facts Matter? Information and Misinformation in American Politics (2016), coauthored with Katherine Levine Einstein. 

David Beavers is a PhD student in the Department of Government, Harvard University. He specializes in the study of political communication in the United States. He was formerly a journalist and editor at Politico.

Their recent paper, "Learning from Experience? COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories and Their Implications for Democratic Discourse," was published in the Fall 2022 issue of Social Research. Their study looked at coronavirus-related conspiracy narratives in the United States across the continuum of political affiliation. They joined us today to discuss their research and how what they found surprised them.