Dr. Niels G. Mede

Science Communication Researcher

Cognitio populi – Vox populi: Implications of science-related populism for communication behavior


Journal article


Niels G. Mede, Mike S. Schäfer, Julia Metag
Communications, 2023


Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
Mede, N. G., Schäfer, M. S., & Metag, J. (2023). Cognitio populi – Vox populi: Implications of science-related populism for communication behavior. Communications. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2022-0059


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Mede, Niels G., Mike S. Schäfer, and Julia Metag. “Cognitio Populi – Vox Populi: Implications of Science-Related Populism for Communication Behavior.” Communications (2023).


MLA   Click to copy
Mede, Niels G., et al. “Cognitio Populi – Vox Populi: Implications of Science-Related Populism for Communication Behavior.” Communications, 2023, doi:10.1515/commun-2022-0059.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{mede2023a,
  title = {Cognitio populi – Vox populi: Implications of science-related populism for communication behavior},
  year = {2023},
  journal = {Communications},
  doi = {10.1515/commun-2022-0059},
  author = {Mede, Niels G. and Schäfer, Mike S. and Metag, Julia}
}

In many countries, science is challenged by science-related populism, which deems the common sense of “ordinary people” superior to the knowledge of “academic elites”. Individual support for science-related populism can be associated with people’s communication behavior: On the one hand, people who hold science-related populist attitudes may inform themselves differently about science; they may even be disconnected from societal discourse around science. On the other hand, they may communicate more actively on social media and in interpersonal conversations. We test this using nationally representative survey data from Switzerland. Results show that science-related populists use TV and social networking sites more often to get information about science. They are also more likely to communicate about science in social media comments. However, science-related populist attitudes are not associated with a general preference for social media over journalistic media. Science-related populism has thus not (yet) fueled a “science-related public disconnection”. We also run multiverse analyses, which show further nuances of our results, and discuss implications for science communication.