Ted George Goertzel (born November 20, 1942)[1] is an emeritus professor in the Sociology Department at Rutgers University–Camden.

He is the author and co-author of books and articles spanning from social economy, politics, and conspiracy theories.

He is the father of Ben Goertzel, with whom he co-authored the 1995 book Linus Pauling: A Life in Science and Politics.

One of his first studies on the subject started in 1992 with a telephone survey of 348 randomly chosen residents in southwestern New Jersey.

He concluded that anomie, insecurity, and lack of trust in people are positively correlated to conspiratorial thinking.