He does seem to base his thesis exclusively on conspiracies of cause (intentional, active plots) and leaves out the subtler but more broadly effective conspiracies of effect (think of the combination of bad education, bad social programming and predatory practices that create and perpetuate the poor as a social class).
The definition of a 'conspiracy' requires conspirators. There has to be a group of people doing something secret or it doesn't count.
I do agree with you that 'conspiracies of effect' exist, and in fact I think they are more common than conspiracies designed by people. A good example is lies told to children; that can't work unless the vast majority of adults won't spoil it by telling the truth to kids they meet. However, there is no secret leadership organizing the thing; there are no people behind a curtain; there is no smoke-filled room; it's just a nasty tradition with no secret group of conspirators causing it.
In many cases people who are participating in one of the conspiracies of effect are aware that what they are doing isn't necessarily kosher, but will have some justification that makes it OK for them to do it.
(eg. a mortgage broker might think "I pushed my lower-income clients into balloon mortgages because it helped them get lower monthly payments. Plus I really needed these Ferragamo's")
In other words given the human mind's capacity for self-delusion, it's not impossible for people to participate in these anarchic leaderless conspiracies without being consciously aware of it.
Unraveling that conundrum might actually get us close to a description of social behaviour that could be considered science.;
He does seem to base his thesis exclusively on conspiracies of cause (intentional, active plots) and leaves out the subtler but more broadly effective conspiracies of effect (think of the combination of bad education, bad social programming and predatory practices that create and perpetuate the poor as a social class).