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Chapter 17 - COVID-19: Conspiracies and Collateral Damage vs Constructive Critique

from Science and Race

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

By
Stephan Lewandowsky ,
Konstantinos Armaos ,
Hendrik Bruns ,
Philipp Schmid ,
Dawn Liu Holford ,
Ulrike Hahn ,
Ahmed Al-Rawi ,
Sunita Sah ,
John Cook  and
Marie Juanchich
...Show all authors
Edited by
Julien Musolino ,
Joseph Sommer  and
Pernille Hemmer
Julien Musolino
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Joseph Sommer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Pernille Hemmer
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
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Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic that turned the world upside down in early 2020 also gave rise to an “infodemic” of misinformation and conspiracy theories. This chapter tackles three issues. We first explore the political and ideological underpinnings of the COVID-19 infodemic and its organizational, rhetorical, and ideological links to climate denial. We then highlight the legitimacy of political grievances in light of government pandemic policies. We conclude by proposing a sketch of the boundary between politically-motivated denial of science on the one hand and legitimate political arguments on the other.

Keywords

COVID-19misinformationconspiracy theoriesclimate changescience denialpublic healthscientific evidencevaccine hesitancy
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cognitive Science of Belief
A Multidisciplinary Approach
 , pp. 374 - 397
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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