Agnotology is a field of social sciences that studies how ignorance is produced and maintained, mostly by companies and public administrations. I did not consider it at first, but a lot of what I am studying in my PhD (climate mitigation scenarios) can be described as a matter of production of ignorance.
I thought a summary of all the strategies used by powerful actors might be useful, so that I can adequately describe what I'm observing. Know that this typology is a first draft: I'm no expert in agnotology, this table is based on recollections of readings from the last 2-3 years. I might rearrange it and complete it later.
I had to invent names for many strategies for which I could not find one, which are written in italics in the table.
| Strategy | Description of the strategy | Effect on politicization | Example | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Framing | Supporting research on a subject only if it has a specific perspective. | It appears that the dominant framing is the only valid one, and that its recommendations are neutral. | Foundations only funding research that support the idea that capitalism and growth are sustainable. | Morena 2023 |
| Flooding | Funding researchers, projects and conferences that explore other aspects of a well-identified problem. | The problem appears more nuanced than it is. | Chemical industries funding a lot of research to explore other potential causes of health problems caused by their products. | Laurens 2015, Pinto 2017 |
| Disinhibition | Producing knowledge to change the way the dangers of a technology are considered. | The technology in itself cannot be questioned, the mitigation of its effects are the main focus of the public debate. | The development of technical norms for steam engines, which sustained the idea that individuals were responsible for explosions (and not the engine in itself). | Fressoz 2012 |
| Fraud | Encouraging the production of false knowledge on a subject. | Knowledge is contradictory. | The tobacco industry commissioning a study, that made false accusation of statistical errors in a researcher’s studies. | Pinto 2017 |
| Doubt | Taking advantage of the public belief that science is certain. Using the uncertainty expressed by scientists themselves. | The causes of the problem appear uncertain. | Fossil fuel companies insisting that there is no consensus on the anthropogenic nature of climate change. | Pinto 2017 |
| Spreading | Massively spreading specific knowledge in the public debate. | The public has a distorted view of the state of the literature. | Cigarette manufacturers demanding an equal treatment in each public debate about the causes of lung cancers. | Pinto 2017, Ortiz 2024 |
| Generalizing | Extending the use of scientific theories to situations where they do not apply. | Non-scientists have a distorted view of what the theories actually mean. | Economists playing with the vernacular and specialized meanings of "optimality" and "welfare". | Pottier 2016. A typical example of an abusive use of "welfare" can be found in Andres et al. (2024). |
| Discrediting | Question the objectivity and rigourousness of scientists, incite other scientists to examine their data. | The problem appears more nuanced than it is. | The “NoFakeScience” campaign launched by agro-industrial and pharmaceutical companies. | Foucart et al. 2024, Pinto 2017 |
| Undone science | Abstaining and preventing studies to be done on a subject. | Scientific evidence is lacking. | The absence of studies on air quality in a city near a petrochemical plant. | Frickel et al. 2010 |
| Non-disclosure | Preventing existing knowledge and data to be disclosed. | Scientific evidence is not public. | Arguing that data on crude oil transport cannot be disclosed, because of national security concerns. | Kinchy and Schaffer 2018 |
| Incomplete disclosure | Disclosing knowledge and data in a way that cannot be easily used. | It’s hard to produce synthetic knowledge to politicize the problem. | Giving access to data on fracking pollution through pdfs instead of table formats. | Kinchy and Schaffer 2018 |
| Boundary work | Distinguishing science from non-science. | Other types of knowledge are not considered legitimate. | The contempt of western ecologists for indigenous knowledge on the use of fire to maintain ecosystems. | Walker 2020, Gieryn 1987 |
| Gatekeeping | Preventing that knowledge from other fields of research circulate to a dominant field. | The results and recommendations from the dominant field appear unchallenged. | The historical break of neoclassical economics with ecology and social sciences. The internal hierarchy within economics. | Walker 2020, Pottier 2016 |
Reflecting on the papers and books that I quote, I think I can make a few interesting observations.
- Fraud seems extremely rare, and one might wonder if companies and states actually ever considered it as a sound strategy.
- Some of the strategies presented here are actually subcategories of others. For example
- Flooding is a form of framing, but it's when you want to weaken a causal link that was previously established.
- Disinhibition can also be considered as a form of framing, but it's when you try to render risk acceptable instead of denying it.
Some strategies are clearly intentional, while others designate more general societal changes. Intentions and responsibilities therefore become harder to identify, and the notion of "strategy" might not be the most adequate to describe these phenomena.
For example, I am not aware of any conspiracy to prevent communication between economics and other fields of research. Yet, it makes sense to include it in such typologies, because this results in the naturalization of capitalist interests.
- It seems like these strategies could be organized in a few broad families. These could be for example:
| Family | Description | Strategies |
|---|---|---|
| Addition | Encouraging specific knowledge to be produced. | Framing, flooding, disinhibition, fraud. |
| Publicization | Influencing how science is communicated to non-scientists and scientists of other disciplines. | Doubt, discrediting, spreading. |
| Obstruction | Preventing research to be done, published, usable or considered reliable. | Undone science, non-disclosure, incomplete disclosure, discrediting. |
| Distinction | Legitimizing only certain types of knowledge. | Boundary work, gatekeeping. |
If you have some thoughts on this, or have encountered a paper offering a similar typology, I'd be happy to know about it. I feel like I might be reinventing the wheel there?
Bibliography
Andrés, J., Boscá, J. E., Doménech, R., & Ferri, J. (2024). The welfare effects of degrowth as a decarbonization strategy. Applied Economic Analysis, 32(95), 112–140. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEA-01-2024-0021
Foucart, S., Horel, S., & Laurens, S. (2024). Les gardiens de la raison: Enquête sur la désinformation scientifique. la Découverte.
Fressoz, J.-B. (2012). L’apocalypse joyeuse. Une histoire du risque technologique (Seuil).
Frickel, S., Gibbon, S., Howard, J., Kempner, J., Ottinger, G., & Hess, D. J. (2010). Undone Science: Charting Social Movement and Civil Society Challenges to Research Agenda Setting. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 35(4), 444–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243909345836
Gieryn, T. F. (1983). Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists. American Sociological Review, 48(6), 781–795. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095325
Kinchy, A., & Schaffer, G. (2018). Disclosure Conflicts: Crude Oil Trains, Fracking Chemicals, and the Politics of Transparency. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 43(6), 1011–1038. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243918768024
Laurens, S. (2015). Les courtiers du capitalisme. Milieux d’affaire et bureaucratie à Bruxelles. Agone.
Morena, E. (2023). Fin du monde et petits fours: Les ultra-riches face à la crise climatique. La Découverte.
Ortiz, V. (2024). L’ère de la pénurie. Capitalisme de rente, sabotage et limites planétaires. Les éditions du Cerf.
Pinto, M. F. (2017). To Know or Better Not to: Agnotology and the Social Construction of Ignorance in Commercially Driven Research. Science & Technology Studies, 30(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.23987/sts.61030
Pottier, A. (2016). Comment les économistes réchauffent la planète. Seuil.
Walker, J. (2020). More heat than life: The tangled roots of ecology, energy, and economics. Palgrave Macmillan.