Online politicizations of science: Contestation versus denialism at the convergence between COVID-19 and climate science on Twitter

Abstract

This study investigates how scientific knowledge is politicized on Twitter. Identifying discursive modes of online politicization and analyzing how they relate to different online issue publics allows us to weigh in on the scholarly debate about when the politicization of science on social media becomes problematic in a democratic context. This is a complicated question in “knowledge societies” where increasing science–politics confluence means that some degree of politicization is necessary for science–informed policymaking and (online) public debate. We look at how pandemic science was politicized through becoming discursively linked with an already highly politicized science issue on Twitter, namely, climate change. Our mixed-methods analysis demonstrates that some politicizations of science seek to contest science-informed policy while others are better characterized as ideological science rejection. We argue for the advantages of this approach of identifying science rejection over approaches that seek to distinguish information from dis-/misinformation.