Who’s Talking About Vaccines and to Whom? The Construction of the Actor in Anti-vaccine Discourse
摘要
This chapter examines how social actors are constructed in anti-vaccine discourse using a combined quantitative and qualitative discourse analytical approach, supported by corpus linguistics. Drawing on a corpus of over 500,000 words from Polish alternative media websites (2012–2019), the study explores how anti-vaccine narratives build semantic fields around roles, professions, familial relationships, and ideological positions. The analysis reveals that actors in this discourse are primarily framed through intimate, family-based relationships—especially motherhood—while also invoking scientific and professional authority to legitimize claims. Contrary to common assumptions, emotional labeling and ideological polarization are relatively muted. Instead, the discourse positions itself as a rational counter-narrative rooted in traditional values and civil liberties. The findings offer insights into how anti-vaccine communication operates as both a discursive strategy and a social reality construction, with implications for public health messaging and strategies to counter disinformation.