Vaccine Hesitancy and the Cultural Politics of Trust in the Dengvaxia Controversy: A Critical Discourse-Ethnographic Study of Online News Content, Producers, and Audiences
Author: Karl Patrick R. Mendoza, karl.mendoza@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
Department: Department of Media and Communication
University: University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Supervisor: Donald Matheson
Year of completion: In progress
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
Dengvaxia controversy
, online news
, trust culture
, vaccine hesitancy
Areas of Research:
Health
, Communication, Knowledge and Culture
, Political Sociology
Abstract
Vaccine hesitancy, which is often equated with “anti-vaccination” or “anti-vax” in everyday discourse, has been defined in the literature as a complex and context-specific behavioral phenomenon involving the delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccine services. At the core of vaccine hesitancy lies the problem of trust—the lack or complete absence of which is inimical to the goal of public health which is to foster trust in health-promoting policies and programs. Yet, we know very little about the many forms that trust may take in various settings, contexts, and societies. Situated within the discipline of media and communication studies, the aim of this thesis is to describe and explore how the news discourse on the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy legitimizes a
particular trust culture in Philippine society. To fulfill this aim, the thesis draws from the social theory of trust propounded by Piotr Sztompka and links it to media studies using a critical discourse-analytic lens. By doing so, the thesis demonstrates that the power of a trust culture lies precisely in being “externalized” and “hidden” as a shared common sense, which, if left unchallenged, may lead to a vicious cycle of particularized trust granting and trust reciprocating that is directed to personalities rather than generalized to the political system. The centralization of trust to persons rather than to the political system is corrosive not only to public health but to democracy.
