2012/03/01 by Liesbet van Zoonen · 4 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Rhetoric and Communication Studies #Social Media and Politics
paper · doi:10.1177/0267323112438808
openalex publication_date 2012/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This article introduces the notion of I-pistemology to capture a contemporary cultural process in which people from all walks of life have come to suspect the knowledge coming from official institutions and experts, and have replaced it with the truth coming from their own individual experience and opinions. While, at present, such personal experiences are successfully mobilized by the new right in Europe, the author argues that I-pistemology is also the result of critical theory and movements that have identified ‘knowledge’ as an instrument of power that needs to be contested. In addition online and offline popular culture have raised personal experience to the level of the only relevant truth. In conclusion, the article discusses the repercussions of I-pistemology for policy and progressive politics.