Between resistance and status quo

Cultural dynamics of online climate denial

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21142/DES-1503-2023-0042

Keywords:

climate change, climate denial, skepticism, climate imaginaries, social media

Abstract

Although it has become vital for the social sciences to study the phenomenon of climate skepticism (or denial), the majority of studies reviewed have overlooked its cultural dimensions. The aim of this article is to identify the climate change imaginaries that are constructed and circulated in the Watts Up With That? Facebook group, and the narratives that are used to sustain them discursively. By means of an analysis of group posts and discussions, I show that these nurture a skeptical discourse in which a few recurrent themes create a polarized moral landscape, and are discussed in an environment of self-legitimization and rejection of the official scientific discourse. As my main conclusion, I propose that climate change denial represents a defense of the status quo, and constructs an environmental imaginary which is based on the separation between human beings and nature, and on the Enlightenment narrative of infinite progress.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Elettra Bresolin, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Bolonia, Italia / Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Lima, Perú

    Licenciada en Antropología, Religiones y Civilizaciones Orientales por la Universidad de Bologna. Cursa la maestría en Antropología Visual en la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Sus intereses de investigación principales son la antropología del arte, las formas de socialización de la naturaleza y las crisis ambientales, y las dinámicas de la imaginación tanto dentro de la cotidianeidad como en las miradas hacia el futuro.

References

Abbinnett, R. (2021). The neoliberal imagination: Politics, aesthetics, and economics in the evolution of hyper-industrial capitalism. Routledge.

Ballew, M., Marlon, J., Leiserowitz, A. y Maibach, E. (20 de noviembre de 2018). Gender differences in public understanding of climate change. Yale Program on Climate Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/gender-differences-in-public-understanding-of-climate-change/

Blee, K. M. y Creasap, K. A. (2010). Conservative and right-wing movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 36(1), 269- 286. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102602

Bloomfield, E. F. y Tillery, D. (2018). The circulation of climate change denial online: Rhetorical and networking strategies on Facebook. Environmental Communication, 13(1), 23-34. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2018.1527378

Castro-Pérez, R. (2023). Performing c onservatism: A study of emerging political mobilisations in Latin America usin g «Social Media Drama » Analysis. En E. Costa, P. G. Lange, N. Haynes, y J. Sinanan (e ds.), The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology (pp. 465-477). Routledge.

de Wit, S. y Haines, S. (2022). Climate change reception studies in anthropology. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 13(1), e742. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.742

DW Documental ( 2 de septiembre de 2022). ¿Por qué nuestro cerebro no puede procesar el cambio climático? [Video]. Arcoiris TV. https://www.arcoiris.tv/scheda/it/45578/addC

García-Belaunde Velarde, V. y Gayozzo, P. (2023). Pseudociencias: una nueva amenaza al proyecto humanista secular. Desde el Sur, 15(2), e0026. https://doi.org/10.21142/DES-1502-2023-0026

Graeber, D. (2013). Culture as Creative Refusal. Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, 31(2), 1-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/ca.2013.310201

Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding. En S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, y P. Willis (e ds.), Culture, media, language: Working papers in cultural studies, 1972- 79 (pp. 117 -127). Routledge.

Hamilton, O. R. (2022). Il potere sostenibile. Internazionale, 1484, 46-53.

Hochsprung Miguel, J. C. (2021). Pós-verdade ou produçao da ignorância? CTS em foco, 5, 54-59.

Hochsprung Miguel, J. C. (2022). A «meada » do negacionismo climático e o impedimento da governamentalização ambiental no Brasil. Sociedade e Estado, 37(1), 293-315. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0102-6992-202237010013

Jasanoff, S. (2010). A new climate for s ociety. Theory, Culture & Society, 27(2-3), 233-253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409361497

Kennedy, B., Tyson, A. y Funk, C. (2022a). Americans’ trust in scientists, other groups declines. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/02/15/americans-trust-in-scientists-other-groups-declines/

Kennedy, B., Tyson, A. y Funk, C. (2022b). Americans v alue U.S. role as scientific leader, but 38% say country is losing ground globally. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/10/25/americans-value-u-s-role-as-scientific-leader-but-38-say-country-is-losing-ground-globally/

Lahsen, M. (2013). Anatomy of d issent: A cultural analysis of climate skepticism. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(6), 732-753. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764212469799

Levy, D. L. y Spicer, A. (2013). Contested imaginaries and the cultural political economy of climate change. Organization, 20(5), 659-678. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508413489816

Lucas, C., Leith, P. y Davison, A. (2015). How climate change research undermines trust in everyday life: a review. WIREs Climate Change, 6(1), 79-91. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.320

Mann, M. E. (2012). The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars. Columbia University Press.

McGranahan, C. (2016). Theorizing r efusal: An i ntroduction. Cultural Anthropology, 31(3), 319-325. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca31.3.03

Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J., Howe, P. y Leiserowitz, A. (1 de julio de 2020). Democratic and Republican Views of Climate Change (2018). Yale Program on Climage Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/partisan-maps-2018/

Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects. Philosophy and ecology after the end of the world. University of Minnesota Press.

Pearce, W., Niederer, S., Özkula, S. M. y Sánchez Querubín, N. (2018). The social media life of climate change: Platforms, publics, and future imaginaries. WIREs Climate Change, 10(2), e569. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.569

Peterson, J. (27 de octubre de 2022). Jordan Petersons thoughts on Russia and Ukraine | With Piers Morgan. [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1248259112683361

Proctor, R. N. (2008). Agnotology: A missing term to describe the cultural production of ignorance (and its study). En R. N. Proctor y L. Schiebinger (e ds.), Agno tology. The making and unmaking of ignorance (pp. 1-35). Stanford University Press.

Rudiak-Gould, P. (2011). Climate change and anthropology: The importance of reception studies. Anthropology Today, 27(2), 9- 12. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8322.2011.00795.x

Rudiak-Gould, P. (2012). Progress, decline, and the public uptake of climate science. Public Understanding of Science, 23(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662512444682

Rudiak-Gould, P. (2013). Cross-Cultural Insights into Climate Change Skepticism. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94(11), 1707-1713. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00129.1

Schaeffer, K. (22 de abril de 2022). For Earth Day, key facts about Americans’ views of climate change and renewable energy. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/04/22/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/

Sobo, E. J. (2016). Theorizing (vaccine) refusal: Through the looking glass. Cultural Anthropology, 31(3), 342-350. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca31.3.04

Stefanoni, P. (2021). ¿La rebeldía se volvió de derecha? S iglo V eintiuno.

Van Aken, M. (2020). Campati per aria. elèuthera.

Vulpe, S.-N. (2020). Cooling down the future. A discourse analysis of climate change skepticism. The Social Science Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2020.1848294

Published

2023-07-25

How to Cite

Between resistance and status quo: Cultural dynamics of online climate denial. (2023). Desde El Sur, 15(3), e0042. https://doi.org/10.21142/DES-1503-2023-0042

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 5 > >> 

Similar Articles

1-10 of 122

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.