Overview

This book examines how scientists around the world embrace their responsibility as citizens, and how science is being used and abused by non-scientists in public spaces. As right-wing politicians, conspiracy theorists, and modern robber barons assault science in the current moment, it is time for the rhetoric of science to reconceptualize itself as a crisis/care discipline. The essays in this volume help us do that by scrutinizing particular cases of science activism, examining the public modalities of resistance that scientists are increasingly taking up as they modify their public engagement to fit evolving rhetorical situations. These essays also reveal how the authority of science is being distorted and exploited by non-experts in ways that are more dangerous than ever in the shadow of climate change and global pandemics. The book ends with a look at new possibilities for collaboration between local communities and scientists and a reflection on how a rhetorical conception of ethos can help us comprehend the negotiation of asymmetries between experts and laypeople in the current era.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pamela Pietrucci ,  Leah Ceccarelli
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Imprint:   Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:  

9783031890741

ISBN 10:   3031890744
Pages:   298
Publication Date:   01 August 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Section I: Scientist Citizens.- Chapter 1: We Feel That It Is No Longer Possible to Remain Uninvolved”: A Rhetorical History of the Union of Concerned Scientists.- Chapter 2: What Do We Want? Evidence-Based Claims! When Do We Want It? After Peer Review!: Advocacy and Activism in the March for Science.- Chapter 3: Publish and/or Perish: Scientific Journal Commentary for Social Action in the Climate and Ecological Emergency.- Chapter 4: Activism in Science: Saying No to the Objectionable Appropriation of Research.- Chapter 5: Reflections on a Scientist’s Public Engagement: A Dialogue with Roberto Burioni.- Section II: Public Engagement with Science.- Chapter 6: Prodused ethos: Trust, ethos, and expertise in Facebook fan sites for health experts.- Chapter 7: Vituperation and Expert Ethos in Public Science: Censure of Public Health Officials in the COVID-19 Era.- Chapter 8: The Bro as Disingenuous Scientist Citizen.- Chapter 9: Vigilante Pseudoscience in a Science Denialist Data Dashboard.- Chapter 10: The Cook Inlet Beluga Whale: Global Whaling, Oppositional Activism, and Community Science.- Chapter 11: Balancing Acts: Asymmetries of Character and Community.

Reviews

“Scientists, Politics, and the Rhetoric of Public Controversy features contributors from four countries (Canada, Denmark, Norway, the United States) and all career stages, many of whose works have moved the study of rhetoric and science forward for years. … Scientists, Politics, and the Rhetoric of Public Controversy is a must-read collection that reflects the present and reimagines the future.” (E. Johanna Hartelius, Quarterly Journal of Speech, November 18, 2025)

Author Information

Pamela Pietrucci is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Leah Ceccarelli is Professor of Communication at the University of Washington, in Seattle, USA.

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