Hurricanes and hegemony: A qualitative analysis of micro-level climate change denial discourses |
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Authors: | Peter J Jacques Claire Connolly Knox |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Political Science;2. School of Public Administration;3. University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA |
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Abstract: | The climate change countermovement and its program of climate change denial have been well documented and studied. However, individual rationales for rejecting climate science remain under-studied. Twitter data related to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 are used to understand why individuals reject the orthodox climate consensus, using a summative content analysis of climate change denial discourses. Three major discourses are discovered: rejecting climate science because climate science is a conspiracy favoring growth of government; opposing renewable energy and energy taxation; and expressing fear of governmental abuse of power. Importantly, each discourse expressed certainty that climate science itself was a wholesale fraud; the denial discourses themselves focused far more on climate politics than on science. |
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Keywords: | Climate change denial climate change discourses Twitter Social Network Analysis Summative content analysis |
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