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Politicization of science: how climate change skeptics use experts and scientific evidence in their online communication

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  • Hannah Schmid-Petri

    (University of Passau)

Abstract

This study, using the discussion about climate change in the USA as an example, analyzes the research question of how climate change skeptics use experts and scientific evidence in their online communication. Two different strategies are distinguished: legitimation and criticism. The study conducts a quantitative content analysis of online documents to answer the research question. The results show that the deduced strategies are an important part of the communication of climate change skeptics, who more commonly use the criticism strategy than the legitimation strategy. Results are further differentiated for different actor types and various types of experts.

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  • Hannah Schmid-Petri, 2017. "Politicization of science: how climate change skeptics use experts and scientific evidence in their online communication," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 523-537, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:145:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10584-017-2112-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-017-2112-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert Brulle, 2014. "Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 681-694, February.
    2. Debra Javeline & Gregory Shufeldt, 2014. "Scientific opinion in policymaking: the case of climate change adaptation," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(2), pages 121-139, June.
    3. Zürn, Michael, 2014. "The politicization of world politics and its effects: Eight propositions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 47-71.
    4. Stella Nordhagen & Dan Calverley & Chris Foulds & Laura O’Keefe & Xinfang Wang, 2014. "Climate change research and credibility: balancing tensions across professional, personal, and public domains," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 149-162, July.
    5. Srdan Medimorec & Gordon Pennycook, 2015. "The language of denial: text analysis reveals differences in language use between climate change proponents and skeptics," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 597-605, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vasist, Pramukh Nanjundaswamy & Krishnan, Satish, 2024. "Powered by innovation, derailed by disinformation: A multi-country analysis of the influence of online political disinformation on nations' innovation performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Swarnalakshmi Umamaheswaran & Vandita Dar & Jagadish Thaker, 2022. "The Evolution of Climate Change Reporting in Business Media: Longitudinal Analysis of a Business Newspaper," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Tschötschel, Robin, 2021. "Polarisation vs consensus-building: How US and German news media portray climate change as a feature of political identities," SocArXiv r5zdc, Center for Open Science.
    4. Drieschova, Alena, 2021. "The social media revolution and shifts in the climate change discourse," Global Cooperation Research Papers 29, University of Duisburg-Essen, Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21).

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