Online misinformation and everyday ontological narratives of social distinction

Hall, Natalie-Anne, Chadwick, Andrew and Vaccari, Cristian 2024. Online misinformation and everyday ontological narratives of social distinction. Media, Culture and Society 46 (3) , pp. 572-590. 10.1177/01634437231211678

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Most research into online misinformation has investigated its direct effects—the impact it may have on citizens’ beliefs and behavior. Much less attention has been paid to how citizens themselves make sense of misinformation as a broader social problem. We integrate theories of narrative, identity, cultural capital, and social distinction to examine how people construct the problem of misinformation and their orientation to it. We show how people engage in everyday ontological narratives of social distinction. These involve making a variety of discursive moves to position one’s “taste” in information consumption as superior to others constructed as lower in a social hierarchy. This serves to enhance social status by separating oneself from misinformation, which is presented as “other people’s problem.” We argue that these narratives have significant implications not only for citizens’ vigilance toward misinformation but also their receptiveness to interventions by policymakers, fact-checkers, news organizations, and media educators.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0163-4437
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2024 12:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172824

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item