Structurally Constrained Epistemic Ecologies in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods: Trust, Authority, and Misinformation

Abstract

This article offers a conceptual account of the epistemic conditions under which misinformation may become credible in structurally disadvantaged neighbourhoods. While dominant approaches often frame misinformation in terms of cognitive bias or media manipulation, the article draws on social epistemology to analyse it as a relational, situated phenomenon shaped by structural exclusion. It develops the concept of structurally constrained epistemic ecologies to capture how credibility, trust, and authority are organised under spatial, socio-economic, and institutional disadvantage. The argument is illustrated through qualitative interviews with social workers who lived and work in disadvantaged urban areas in Czechia. This material is used illustratively rather than for empirical generalisation, grounding the conceptual framework in lived epistemic practices. The analysis clarifies how vulnerability to misinformation is shaped by relational trust, affective resonance, and shared experience, rather than individual irrationality. The article highlights the ambivalence of socially situated knowledges within structurally constrained epistemic ecologies: while they function as resources for belonging, solidarity, and epistemic resilience, they may also facilitate the social anchoring of misleading claims. By integrating insights from epistemic injustice, epistemic resistance, affective epistemology, and subjugated knowledges, the article refines how misinformation can be understood in neighbourhood-level structural disadvantage.