On covidiots and covexperts: stupidity and the politics of health

Grimwood, Tom ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-6191 (2021) On covidiots and covexperts: stupidity and the politics of health. Journal of Applied Hermeneutics, 2021 (6).

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significance of the politics of health as an ongoing interpretative event. The effectiveness of delivering prevention strategies is in negotiation with day-to-day arguments in the public sphere, not just by “experts” in peer-reviewed papers, but also in the everyday interpretations and discussions of available expertise on print and digital media platforms. In this paper I explore ae particular facet of these public debate over the politics of health: the deployment of the commonplace of stupidity. I argue that the growth of this commonplace within discussion is rooted in particular models of interpretation which limit self-understanding, by over-emphasising certain points of significance within the interpretative horizon over more banal (and “stupid”) aspects that are, nevertheless, influential on health interventions.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Journal of Applied Hermeneutics
Publisher:	Canadian Hermeneutic Institute
ISSN:	1927-4416
Departments:	Health and Society Knowledge Exchange (HASKE) Institute of Health > Social Work, Children and Families
Depositing User:	Tom Grimwood
Date Deposited:	05 May 2021 12:26
Last Modified:	24 Jan 2024 11:45
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/6058

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