Exploring vaccination debates through corpus-assisted discourse analysis: The MMR vaccine debate and its relevance to the covid-19 pandemic

Overview & Synopsis

This volume explores the discursive construction of debates around the topic of vaccination, with a particular focus on the hypothesis of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The research analyses the coverage of the debate in the British press up to 2019, through the tools of corpus-assisted discourse analysis and in light of the so-called “post-truth era”. The analysis focuses on the construction of medico-scientific debates in the media, in particular on issues of newsworthiness and polyphony. The discursive representation of evidence and the (de)legitimation strategies of social actors interacting in the debate are then explored. A large part of the volume is also devoted to the topic of argumentative narratives and the evidential value of personal experience. Each chapter of the monograph illustrates a connection between these aspects of the MMR vaccine controversy and the Covid-19 pandemic situation.