The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
The search for alternative knowledge, conspiracy theories, distrust of expertise and anti-science movements are gaining momentum and post-truth populism is speeding up on the back of fake news. The crisis of truth refers to an era where evidence and objective facts get lost in sentiment, emotion, an...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2022.2130213 |
| _version_ | 1811339231679741952 |
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| author | Hande Eslen-Ziya Ezgi Pehlivanli |
| author_facet | Hande Eslen-Ziya Ezgi Pehlivanli |
| author_sort | Hande Eslen-Ziya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The search for alternative knowledge, conspiracy theories, distrust of expertise and anti-science movements are gaining momentum and post-truth populism is speeding up on the back of fake news. The crisis of truth refers to an era where evidence and objective facts get lost in sentiment, emotion, and personal beliefs. Relying on emotions, creationism, religious beliefs, and common sense over expertise deliberately creates counter-knowledge referred to as pseudo-science, troll-science or fake-science. As the worth of scientific expertise is devalued, the counter-scientific discourses supported through populist political rhetoric help to produce a culture of resistance to science. Our qualitative content analysis of Twitter posts along with the news regarding anti-vaccine arguments from two selected online news sites, revealed three major themes, which we referred to as strategies used by the COVID-19 vaccine deniers in Turkey to disseminate their views. These were: an emphasis on bodily freedom and personal choice and the use of “my body my choice” rhetoric; the denying, devaluing, and shifting of scientific evidence; and the dismissal and/or attacking of alternative views and the deepening of the polarisation between the supporters of the COVID-19 restrictions, vaccine supporters and deniers. We conclude the paper by arguing that there is a link between the distrust of doctors and the anti-vaccination ideas, and the quest for alternative knowledge and expert authority. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T18:23:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-117bb8f351944bf1890ca297487bf290 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2331-1886 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T18:23:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-117bb8f351944bf1890ca297487bf2902022-12-22T02:35:21ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862022-12-018110.1080/23311886.2022.2130213The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in TurkeyHande Eslen-Ziya0Ezgi Pehlivanli1Department of Media and Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, NorwayDepartment of Media and Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, NorwayThe search for alternative knowledge, conspiracy theories, distrust of expertise and anti-science movements are gaining momentum and post-truth populism is speeding up on the back of fake news. The crisis of truth refers to an era where evidence and objective facts get lost in sentiment, emotion, and personal beliefs. Relying on emotions, creationism, religious beliefs, and common sense over expertise deliberately creates counter-knowledge referred to as pseudo-science, troll-science or fake-science. As the worth of scientific expertise is devalued, the counter-scientific discourses supported through populist political rhetoric help to produce a culture of resistance to science. Our qualitative content analysis of Twitter posts along with the news regarding anti-vaccine arguments from two selected online news sites, revealed three major themes, which we referred to as strategies used by the COVID-19 vaccine deniers in Turkey to disseminate their views. These were: an emphasis on bodily freedom and personal choice and the use of “my body my choice” rhetoric; the denying, devaluing, and shifting of scientific evidence; and the dismissal and/or attacking of alternative views and the deepening of the polarisation between the supporters of the COVID-19 restrictions, vaccine supporters and deniers. We conclude the paper by arguing that there is a link between the distrust of doctors and the anti-vaccination ideas, and the quest for alternative knowledge and expert authority.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2022.2130213Crisis of truthpopulismpseudo-scienceknowledgecounter-knowledgeCOVID-19 |
| spellingShingle | Hande Eslen-Ziya Ezgi Pehlivanli The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Cogent Social Sciences Crisis of truth populism pseudo-science knowledge counter-knowledge COVID-19 |
| title | The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey |
| title_full | The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey |
| title_fullStr | The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey |
| title_full_unstemmed | The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey |
| title_short | The search for alternative knowledge in the post-truth era: Anti-vaccine mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey |
| title_sort | search for alternative knowledge in the post truth era anti vaccine mobilization during the covid 19 pandemic in turkey |
| topic | Crisis of truth populism pseudo-science knowledge counter-knowledge COVID-19 |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2022.2130213 |
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