The Microbiome as TED Knows It

Popular Science Communication and the Neoliberal Subject

Bibliographic Data

ID14783065
AuthorsPenelope Ironstone (Wilfrid Laurier University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume44
Issue2
Pages157-174
Publication date2019-06-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0705-3657 • E-ISSN: 1499-6642
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.22230/cjc.2019v44n2a3339
OpenAlexW2954112457
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited29

Background Although criticized for a variety of reasons, TED platforms and conventions have been engaged, often uncritically, as tools for popular science communication. This article critically examines four TED Talks that engage the relatively recent biomedical concept of the human microbiome. Analysis Neoliberal values underpin both the TED universe and the marketization of science. TED conventions produce a discursive regularity that brings together neoliberal subjectivity and bioeconomic imperatives of contemporary scientific research. This neoliberalization is supported by uncritically championing citizen science and the so-called democratization of science alongside crowdsourcing and crowdfunding appeals. Conclusions and implications Uncritically embracing TED Talks can implicate science communication in the reproduction of problematic ideological positions that favour economic interests over the social good or even individual health

Biopower · Citizen science · Crowdsourcing · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ideology · Marketization · Media studies · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political science · Politics · Science communication · Science education · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Subjectivity · Variety (cybernetics · Academic Publishing and Open Access · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Law · Social Media in Health Education