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Media, Knowledge and Trust: The Deepening Epistemic Crisis of Democracy
Abstract
The argument has two related parts: firstly, we are witnessing an “epistemic” crisis in public spheres that threatens to undermine political agency. This crisis has to do with the massive amounts and speed of information, the processes by which we construct knowledge, as well as the new forms of knowledge deriving from digital technologies. Many developments in information technologies benefit democracy, but there is a growing concern about cognitive dilemmas. Secondly, in the present tumultuous juncture of Western democracies, dominated by the populist revolt, traditional distrust of media has turned into an assault on basic Enlightenment premises, eroding shared understandings of reality and compatible discourse. “Knowledge” becomes legitimated via emotionality. Critical rationality and progressive politics must engage more with these developments.
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“This exploration has great potential and it suggests, for example, that contemporary concerns with epistemic trust in political communication (Dahlgren, 2018) pay insufficient attention to issues of social power and to the idea that 'social disadvantage can produce unjust epistemic disadvantage' (Fricker, 2007, p. 2).”
From Epistemic injustice and education in the digital age: Introduction (2024) · cites this paper as Dahlgren, 2018
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dahlgren, P.
- Affiliations
- Lund University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Dahlgren, Peter
- ORCID
- Dahlgren, Peter
- Venue
- Javnost - The Public
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-01-31
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 20-27
- ISSN
- 1318-3222 (ISSN-L)
- 1854-8377
- OpenAlex
- W2793216696
- Cited by
- 237
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 26.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Javnost - The Public (publishedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Communication › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Keywords
- epistemic crisis, democracy, media, trust, populism, information overload, digital technologies, knowledge construction, political agency, emotionality, critical rationality, Enlightenment, public sphere
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