{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T18:04:28Z","timestamp":1754157868010,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]],"date-time":"2005-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1117584000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>To explore the issues surrounding the falling rates of MMR vaccination following the publication of a controversial study by Wakefield<jats:italic>et al.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>In order to take a fresh look at the MMR crisis, the Greek tragedy,<jats:italic>Antigone<\/jats:italic>, was used as a \u201cstrong plot\u201d to de\u2010contextualise the underlying social and political issues. In this short paper, two themes are explored that emerge from reading<jats:italic>Antigone<\/jats:italic>with respect to the unfolding crisis of public confidence in the MMR vaccine: first, the challenge to government in the form of a decrease in public trust in government and government policies; and second, how such a challenge assumes significance and, arising from that, the question of how one might respond to the challenge.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>The MMR debate throws issues of importance to society into relief \u2013 for example, public trust in government and science; and notions of public good versus rational choice in public policy on vaccination, However, much of the debate has been polarised into good versus evil \u2013 good and evil being subjective positions that are interchangeable, depending on the side one favours. It is argued that the issues are more complex than this, and are as much to do with political consent and the bargain between citizen and state.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>Using \u201cstrong plots\u201d to theorise about current issues is powerful because it allows one to explore them from different angles and challenge one's understanding.<jats:italic>Antigone<\/jats:italic>provides us with a way of standing back from the MMR crisis and re\u2010conceptualising the issues to capture the essence of the underlying debate.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/14777260510608970","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,1,15]],"date-time":"2007-01-15T19:12:41Z","timestamp":1168888361000},"page":"252-260","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["MMR \u2013 public policy in crisis: whose tragedy?"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Laura","family":"Stroud","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b1","unstructured":"(The) BSE Inquiry (2000), The Inquiry into BSE and variant CJD in the United Kingdom, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, London."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b2","unstructured":"Butler, J. (2000), Antigone's Claim: Kinship between Life and Death, Columbia University Press, New York, NY."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b3","unstructured":"Czarniawska, B. (2004), \u201cPreface\u201d, in Gabriel, Y. (Ed.), Myths, Stories, and Organizations: Premodern Narratives for Our Times, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. vii\u2010viii."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b4","unstructured":"Deer, B. (2004), \u201cRevealed: MMR research scandal\u201d, The Sunday Times, 22 February."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fombonne, E. (1998), \u201cInflammatory bowel disease and autism\u201d, The Lancet, Vol. 351, p. 955.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(05)60608-3"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gabriel, Y. (Ed.) (2004), Myths, Stories, and Organizations: Premodern Narratives for Our Times, Oxford University Press, Oxford.","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780199264476.001.0001"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b7","unstructured":"Greenwood, L. (2001), \u201cDo the right thing\u201d, NHS Magazine, March."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hegel, G.W.F. (1975), Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139167567"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hobson\u2010West, P. (2003), \u201cUnderstanding vaccination resistance: moving beyond risk\u201d, Health, Risk & Society, Vol. 5, pp. 273\u201083.","DOI":"10.1080\/13698570310001606978"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b10","unstructured":"Horton, R. (2004), MMR Science & Fiction, Granta Books, London."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Markell, P. (2003), \u201cTragic recognition \u2013 action and identity in Antigone and Aristotle\u201d, Political Theory, Vol. 31, pp. 6\u201038.","DOI":"10.1177\/0090591702239437"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Peltola, H., Patja, A., Leinikki, P., Valle, M., Davidkin, I. and Paunio, M. (1998), \u201cNo evidence for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine\u2010associated inflammatory disease or autism in a 14\u2010year prospective study\u201d, The Lancet, Vol. 351, pp. 1327\u20108.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(98)24018-9"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Petts, J. and Niemeyer, S. (2004), \u201cHealth risk communication and amplification: learning from the MMR vaccination controversy\u201d, Health, Risk & Society, Vol. 6, pp. 7\u201023.","DOI":"10.1080\/13698570410001678284"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b14","unstructured":"Sophocles (1994), Antigone (trans. by H.D.F. Kitto, edited by E. Hall), Oxford University Press, New York, NY."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Taylor, B., Miller, E., Farrington, C.P., Petropoulos, M.\u2010C., Favot\u2010Mayaud, I., Li, J. and Waight, P.A. (1999), \u201cAutism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association\u201d, The Lancet, Vol. 353, pp. 2026\u20109.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(99)01239-8"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b16","unstructured":"Vernon, J.G. (2003), \u201cImmunisation policy: from compliance to concordance?\u201d, British Journal of General Practice, Vol. 53, pp. 399\u2010404."},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wakefield, A.J., Murch, S.H., Anthony, A., Linnell, J., Casson, D.M., Malik, M., Berelowitz, M., Dhillon, A.P., Thomson, M.A., Harvey, P., Valentine, A., Davies, S.E. and Walker\u2010Smith, J.A. (1998), \u201cIleal\u2010lymphoid\u2010nodular hyperplasia, non\u2010specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children\u201d, The Lancet, Vol. 351, pp. 637\u201041.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(97)11096-0"},{"key":"key2022032219583730900_b18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wilson, C. 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