Political orientation and Scientific Rationalism Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination: A Study of Moms-Holic Baby Community Members

This study examines the discourse of “momcafe” members during the COVID -19 pandemic regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Members of this community pride themselves on making claims based on objective scientific facts. However, despite this pride, when deciding on vaccination, they tend to rely more on subjective attitudes and politically framed science rather then objective science. Furthermore, many of these members are often unaware of their own subjective and political biases. This issue will be explored in three specific aspects: first, the distrust of the Moon Jae-in administration and the belief in vaccine conspiracy theories under the guise of science, second, the support of government policies and emphasis on the credibility of science and technology based on personal experiences and surrounding information, and lastly, the problem of falling into confusion due to an excessive trust in science or information that is deemed scientific, leading to an uncritical acceptance of related information. The existing research on Korean housewives has largely focused on their emotions and child-rearing concerns. This study aims to uncover a new perspective on current Korean housewives by dealing with aspects that have not been examined in previous research.