Fuelling Denial: The climate change reactionary movement and Swedish far-right media
Doctoral thesis, 2024
Fossil fuel industry has a long history of spreading disinformation about climate change science and obstructing mitigating policies. During the 2010s and 2020s, these vested interests have found a political ally in parts of the European far-right. This study explores how this has taken shape in Sweden, a country where there has been a political consensus about the seriousness of climate change. The ascendance of the far-right, however, has led to this consensus breaking down.
The four empirical papers of the thesis analyse the climate change discourses on five Swedish far-right alternative media sites during the years 2018-2019 and in connection with the release of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report in 2021 (the physical science basis). The study shows how certain far-right media actors used literal denialist argumentation to renounce the science of climate change. This renouncement was used in the further far-right media ecosystem to designate climate change as a ridiculous topic using for example scare-quoting. Also, there was widespread, misogynistic opposition to Greta Thunberg.
The thesis’ kappa introduces the term the climate change reactionary movement, to highlight how far-right opposition to climate change policies is connected to anti-feminism and nationalism. The nostalgic gaze of the Swedish far-right is towards the 1950s and 1960s and a society characterised by gendered divisions of labour, strong beliefs in technological innovation, and increased welfare for those deemed to be belonging to the nation. But this nostalgic gaze ignores that it was a society built on extensive exploitation of natural resources and otherised people, and fuelled by the carbon that today is threatening living conditions on the planet.
The empirical analyses are done using methods from critical discourse analysis and content analysis, and the interdisciplinary theoretical framework is built on concepts from gender studies (industrial/breadwinner and petro-masculinities), environmental sociology (climate change obstruction), sociology (states of denial), political ecology (far right), media studies (propaganda feedback-loop) and history (concerning nationalism, industrial modernity, and fossil capital).
The four empirical papers of the thesis analyse the climate change discourses on five Swedish far-right alternative media sites during the years 2018-2019 and in connection with the release of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report in 2021 (the physical science basis). The study shows how certain far-right media actors used literal denialist argumentation to renounce the science of climate change. This renouncement was used in the further far-right media ecosystem to designate climate change as a ridiculous topic using for example scare-quoting. Also, there was widespread, misogynistic opposition to Greta Thunberg.
The thesis’ kappa introduces the term the climate change reactionary movement, to highlight how far-right opposition to climate change policies is connected to anti-feminism and nationalism. The nostalgic gaze of the Swedish far-right is towards the 1950s and 1960s and a society characterised by gendered divisions of labour, strong beliefs in technological innovation, and increased welfare for those deemed to be belonging to the nation. But this nostalgic gaze ignores that it was a society built on extensive exploitation of natural resources and otherised people, and fuelled by the carbon that today is threatening living conditions on the planet.
The empirical analyses are done using methods from critical discourse analysis and content analysis, and the interdisciplinary theoretical framework is built on concepts from gender studies (industrial/breadwinner and petro-masculinities), environmental sociology (climate change obstruction), sociology (states of denial), political ecology (far right), media studies (propaganda feedback-loop) and history (concerning nationalism, industrial modernity, and fossil capital).
climate obstruction
masculinities
alternative media
denialism
Sweden
modernity
anti-reflexivity
nationalism
Vasa B, Vera Sandbergs allé 8.
Opponent: Professor Daniele Conversi, University of the Basque Country, Spain
Author
Kjell Vowles
Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Science, Technology and Society
Scare-quoting climate: The rapid rise of climate denial in the Swedish far-right media ecosystem
Nordic Journal of Media Studies,;Vol. 3(2021)p. 79-95
Journal article
Dead White men vs. Greta Thunberg: Nationalism, Misogyny, and Climate Change Denial in Swedish far-right Digital Media
Australian Feminist Studies,;Vol. 36(2021)p. 414-431
Journal article
Talking heads and contrarian graphs: televising the Swedish far right ’s climate denialism
Visualising far-right environments Communication and the politics of nature,;(2023)p. 253-273
Book chapter
Climate delay discourses present in global mainstream television coverage of the IPCC’s 2021 report
Communications Earth and Environment,;Vol. 4(2023)
Journal article
Värmeböljorna, rekordbränderna och Greta Thunbergs aktivism lyfte klimatförändringarna på den svenska mediala agendan 2018. Rapporteringen ökade också på högerradikala medier, men här skapade klimatkrisens konsekvenser ingen oro. I stället spred de här medierna tvivel om klimatforskningen genom att använda vilseledande grafer och ironiska citattecken, och genom att reproducera misogyna troper och konspirationsteorier.
I Fuelling Denial: The climate change reactionary movement and Swedish far-right media, analyseras klimatdiskurserna på fem svenska högerradikala mediesajter under tidsperioden 2018-2019 och i samband med att IPCC:s sjätte utvärderingsrapport släpptes 2021. De fyra artiklarnas empiriska analys är kontextualiserad i kappan, som diskutera vilken roll nationell-industriell modernitet spelar i koppling till förnekelse om klimatkrisen. I kappan skrivs de historiska kopplingarna till 1800-talets nationsbyggande fram, och analysen tydliggör varför kontrafaktiska argument producerade av fossilindustrin har hittat ett ideologiskt hem inom stora delar av den nationalistiska radikalhögern.
Den nostalgiska blicken för den svenska radikala högern är riktad mot 1950- och 1960-talen och ett samhälle karaktäriserad av en manlig arbetsmarknad, en stark tilltro till teknologisk innovation och ökad välfärd för dem som ansågs tillhöra nationen. Men den här nostalgiska blicken ignorerar att det var ett samhälle byggd på exploatering av naturresurser och minoriteter, och tankad med de fossila bränslen som idag förändrar livsvillkoren på planeten.
I Fuelling Denial: The climate change reactionary movement and Swedish far-right media, analyseras klimatdiskurserna på fem svenska högerradikala mediesajter under tidsperioden 2018-2019 och i samband med att IPCC:s sjätte utvärderingsrapport släpptes 2021. De fyra artiklarnas empiriska analys är kontextualiserad i kappan, som diskutera vilken roll nationell-industriell modernitet spelar i koppling till förnekelse om klimatkrisen. I kappan skrivs de historiska kopplingarna till 1800-talets nationsbyggande fram, och analysen tydliggör varför kontrafaktiska argument producerade av fossilindustrin har hittat ett ideologiskt hem inom stora delar av den nationalistiska radikalhögern.
Den nostalgiska blicken för den svenska radikala högern är riktad mot 1950- och 1960-talen och ett samhälle karaktäriserad av en manlig arbetsmarknad, en stark tilltro till teknologisk innovation och ökad välfärd för dem som ansågs tillhöra nationen. Men den här nostalgiska blicken ignorerar att det var ett samhälle byggd på exploatering av naturresurser och minoriteter, och tankad med de fossila bränslen som idag förändrar livsvillkoren på planeten.
The record heat waves, unprecedented wildfires, and activism of Greta Thunberg raised climate change on the Swedish media agenda in 2018. Reporting also increased on far-right media, but here the consequences of the climate crisis caused little concern. Instead, these sites spread doubt about climate change science by using deceptive graphs and scare-quotes, and recirculating misogynistic tropes and conspiracy theories.
In Fuelling Denial: The climate change reactionary movement and Swedish far-right media, the climate change discourses on five Swedish far-right alternative media sites are analysed, for the time-period 2018-2019 and in connection with the release of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report in 2021. The four papers’ empirical analyses are contextualised in the introductory kappa, which discusses the role of national-industrial modernity in relation to climate change denial. It outlines the historical connections to 19th century nation-building and investigates why the contrarian arguments produced by the fossil fuel industry has found an ideological home within large parts of the nationalistic far right.
The nostalgic gaze of the Swedish far right is towards the 1950s and 1960s; a society characterized by gendered divisions of labour, strong beliefs in technological innovation, and increased welfare for those deemed to be belonging to the nation. But this nostalgic gaze ignores that it was a society built on the exploitation of natural resources and otherised people, and fuelled by the carbon that today is changing the living conditions on the planet.
In Fuelling Denial: The climate change reactionary movement and Swedish far-right media, the climate change discourses on five Swedish far-right alternative media sites are analysed, for the time-period 2018-2019 and in connection with the release of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report in 2021. The four papers’ empirical analyses are contextualised in the introductory kappa, which discusses the role of national-industrial modernity in relation to climate change denial. It outlines the historical connections to 19th century nation-building and investigates why the contrarian arguments produced by the fossil fuel industry has found an ideological home within large parts of the nationalistic far right.
The nostalgic gaze of the Swedish far right is towards the 1950s and 1960s; a society characterized by gendered divisions of labour, strong beliefs in technological innovation, and increased welfare for those deemed to be belonging to the nation. But this nostalgic gaze ignores that it was a society built on the exploitation of natural resources and otherised people, and fuelled by the carbon that today is changing the living conditions on the planet.
Why is not climate science taken for real? Studies of climate change denialism
Swedish Energy Agency (46178-1), 2018-07-01 -- 2021-12-31.
Formas (2018-00417), 2018-07-01 -- 2021-12-31.
Driving Forces
Sustainable development
Subject Categories
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Areas of Advance
Energy
ISBN
978-91-8103-047-1
Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 5505
Publisher
Chalmers
Vasa B, Vera Sandbergs allé 8.
Opponent: Professor Daniele Conversi, University of the Basque Country, Spain