{"title":"Online politicizations of science: Contestation versus denialism at the convergence between COVID-19 and climate science on Twitter.","authors":"Donya Alinejad, Ali Honari","doi":"10.1177/09636625231216054","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigates how scientific knowledge is politicized on Twitter. Identifying discursive <i>modes of online politicization</i> and analyzing how they relate to different online issue publics allows us to weigh in on the scholarly debate about when the politicization of science on social media becomes problematic in a democratic context. This is a complicated question in \"knowledge societies\" where increasing science-politics confluence means that some degree of politicization is necessary for science-informed policymaking and (online) public debate. We look at how pandemic science was politicized through becoming discursively linked with an already highly politicized science issue on Twitter, namely, climate change. Our mixed-methods analysis demonstrates that some politicizations of science seek to contest science-informed policy while others are better characterized as ideological science rejection. We argue for the advantages of this approach of identifying science rejection over approaches that seek to distinguish information from dis-/misinformation.</p>","PeriodicalId":48094,"journal":{"name":"Public Understanding of Science","volume":" ","pages":"396-413"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11056079/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Understanding of Science","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625231216054","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/17 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study investigates how scientific knowledge is politicized on Twitter. Identifying discursive modes of online politicization and analyzing how they relate to different online issue publics allows us to weigh in on the scholarly debate about when the politicization of science on social media becomes problematic in a democratic context. This is a complicated question in "knowledge societies" where increasing science-politics confluence means that some degree of politicization is necessary for science-informed policymaking and (online) public debate. We look at how pandemic science was politicized through becoming discursively linked with an already highly politicized science issue on Twitter, namely, climate change. Our mixed-methods analysis demonstrates that some politicizations of science seek to contest science-informed policy while others are better characterized as ideological science rejection. We argue for the advantages of this approach of identifying science rejection over approaches that seek to distinguish information from dis-/misinformation.
期刊介绍:
Public Understanding of Science is a fully peer reviewed international journal covering all aspects of the inter-relationships between science (including technology and medicine) and the public. Public Understanding of Science is the only journal to cover all aspects of the inter-relationships between science (including technology and medicine) and the public. Topics Covered Include... ·surveys of public understanding and attitudes towards science and technology ·perceptions of science ·popular representations of science ·scientific and para-scientific belief systems ·science in schools