“Now Those Village Idiots Are on Social Media”: The Epistemic Othering of Science Skeptics

• In Event: Science, Knowledge & Technology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: The Social Transformation of Knowledge in the Digital Age

Abstract

After a decade of heated debates about misinformation and science polarization, following expert advice has become a social and political identity marker. An understudied implication is how the antagonistic language around scientific authorities and between elites and populist masses may creep into the everyday language that lay people use to describe each other, such as when they put down skeptics or others who fail to follow expert advice. This article develops a sociological concept of “epistemic othering” understood as derogatory statements about others whose uptake of science and expert advice is characterized as being cognitively or morally flawed. The argument is based on a descriptive analysis of 150 qualitative interviews from five countries. The analysis shows how epistemic othering is typically emphatic (e.g. "they're idiots!") and often accompanied by signs of anger and frustration. When people explain what is wrong with skeptics, they often identify them as a negative mirror image of their own presumed commitment to science, and they also often invoke social hierarchies and ridicule skeptics as being stupid or uneducated. Finally, people also often sound like they are policing the borders of what are acceptable ways to use scientific knowledge, for instance by testing whether skeptics are sincere in their beliefs or merely 'want to' ignore science out of fear or selfishness. The key contributions are to theorize the concept of epistemic othering and to describe common traits in the statements whereby people accuse others of having a flawed uptake of science and expert advice.

Author

• Lars Thorup Larsen, Aarhus University