ABSTRACT
In Sweden, it has been argued that traditionally salient political actors exhibit relatively low levels of engagement in public discussions about COVID-19 and its related responses. Instead, it is marked by attention to conflict lines and voices within the scientific community. Playing into this political dynamic is the emergence of media activism enacted and organized by scientists, in the form of mass mediated opinion content, much of which has received significant public attention. This chapter explores content produced by scientific and expert actors in relation to the pandemic in Sweden. Employing a discourse analytical approach guided by the moral panic conceptual framework, the analysis directs attention to the relationship between moralizing discourse and the discourse of science in such content. We find that researchers' moralizing arguments are not aimed at increasing democratic government by involving citizens more in decision processes, but to change the system to one that is responsive to researchers' opinions, i.e. a technocratic society. We also show how researchers become constructed as omniscient tellers of truth, with crucial capacities also for making moral judgements. Scholar expert identities become voices for sharp and highly publicized attacks on the Swedish COVID-19 strategy that share characteristics commonly associated with populism.
