To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate against HPV? A Content Analysis of Vocabularies of Motives

• Main Author: Simona Nicoleta Vulpe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), College of Communication and Public Relations, Bucharest 2020-12-01
• Series: Romanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations
• Online Access: https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/311

In the present paper, I conducted a comparative study of vocabularies of motives that Romanian and American parents employ in the online environment on the topic of HPV vaccination. I started from C. W. Mills’s (1940) article on vocabularies of motives, integrating into my analysis the concepts of filter bubbles and echo chambers. The research method that I employed is the content analysis of posts and comments from Facebook pages dedicated to the topic of vaccination. My results show that the vocabularies of Romanian and American parents are similar. In confrontational interactions on anti-vaccination pages the vocabularies of motives mirror each other, being centered on the adverse effects of the HPV vaccine and the dangers of not vaccinating. In consensual interactions on anti-vaccination pages, mandatory vaccination is advanced as the core motive within a flourishing vocabulary. On pro-vaccination pages, confrontational interactions give rise to vocabularies of motives concentrated on risks and dangers and also on accusations against anti-vaccination supporters. Consensual interactions on these pages generate circular vocabularies formed of accusations against anti-vaccinators and the reiteration of the danger of not vaccinating. Beyond the striking opposition between pro- and anti-vaxxers, there are intra-categorical discrepancies accompanied by mixt vocabularies of motives.