scholarly journals An ‘inconvenient truth’? The problem of recognition of the political message – commentary to Huttunen and Albrecht

2021 ◽  
Vol 199 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Kyroglou
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
News Media ◽  
Environmental Activism ◽  
Environmental Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
An Inconvenient Truth ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Political Message

  This commentary reflects on Huttunen and Albrecht’s exploration of the representations of young people’s environmental citizenship within the framing of the Fridays for Future (FFF) movement in the Finnish news media and on Twitter. In particular, it problematises the issue of the recognition of young people’s agency by their adult contemporaries, at a watershed moment for global environmental activism. It argues that although young people actively bring the climate change in the forefront of political discussion aiming to shape how environmental responsibility is being understood, the success of the movement will largely depend on the acknowledgement of their political message by its intended recipients; namely their adult contemporaries and politicians.    

scholarly journals Ecological Citizens with a Movie Camera: Communitarian and Agonistic Environmental Documentaries

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Hedemann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Visual Rhetoric ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Interpretive Research ◽  
An Inconvenient Truth ◽  
Ecological Citizenship ◽  
Movie Camera

Environmental documentaries attained wider public and academic attention, especially in the aftermath of Al Gore’s prominent documentary on climate change An Inconvenient Truth. Making environmental documentaries is a cinematic form of political advocacy. However, there is a lack of research on the broad range of such films from Germany. While earlier works tended to an accusatory style, newer environmental documentary seems to be more constructive and aiming at spreading information about feasible alternatives. This article pursues three objectives: first, to gain a deeper understanding of the shift from accusatory to constructive documentaries; second, to connect film studies to the political change-making role and therefore to theories of ecological citizenship; and third, to explore the question of what citizenship with a movie camera means. The accusatory and constructive style are associated with agonistic and communitarian ecological citizenship. A sample of two films from the German context, namely Leben ausser Kontrolle produced by Bertram Verhaag in 2004 and Voices of Transition produced by Nils Aguilar in 2012, is analyzed comparatively. The interpretive research method combines methods of studying audio-visual rhetoric with the framing approach from social movement studies.

scholarly journals “We Are Radical In Our Kindness”: The Political Socialisation, Motivations, Demands and Protest Actions of Young Environmental Activists in Britain

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-280
Author(s):  
Sarah Pickard ◽  
Benjamin Bowman ◽  
Dena Arya
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Environmental Activism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Academic Perceptions ◽  
Repertoire Of Contention ◽  
Global Movements

Abstract The year 2018 was a watershed in environmental activism, especially regarding young activists. Greta Thunberg started her School Strikes for Climate and the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion was founded. This article deals with young people’s involvement in these two global movements. It draws on 60 semi-structured interviews carried out with young environmental activists before, during and after protest actions under the auspices of the climate strikes and/or Extinction Rebellion in five British locations. The period of the political socialisation of this young generation is outlined and how it contributes to young people becoming environmental activists. The article then identifies the “radical” demands made by young environmental activists and their “radical” repertoire of contention in relation to their perceptions of the “radical” compared to hegemonic definitions. The interviews show that these young environmentalists are part of a generation of activists committed to obtaining significant change from powerholders through the use of deliberately non-violent direct action that challenges academic perceptions of radical repertoires of contention.

scholarly journals What are political parties doing on TikTok? The Spanish case

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Cervi ◽  
Carles Marín-Lladó
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The World

TikTok, already widely used before the pandemic, boomed during the quarantine that locked down large parts of the world, reaching 2 billion downloads and 800 million monthly active users worldwide by the end of 2020. Of these 800 million users, 41% are aged between 16 and 24 years. This social network, widely known for its entertainment videos, is increasingly becoming a place for political discussion and therefore a unique opportunity for political actors to (re)connect with young people. Acknowledging that the political uses of TikTok are still understudied, this paper aims to explore whether and how Spanish political parties are including TikTok as part of their communication strategy. Through an affordance-centered content analysis of all the posts published by the five most important Spanish political parties (PP, PSOE, Ciudadanos, Podemos, and Vox), the current results show that, although all Spanish political parties have adopted this platform, their usage is unequal. From a quantitative perspective, PP was the first party to open a TikTok account, but its usage has been discontinuous; Podemos and Ciudadanos are the parties that publish the most and most constantly, while Vox has only published nine posts and the PSOE one. Nonetheless, from a qualitative perspective, Podemos and Vox generate more engagement and seem to understand and exploit TikTok’s specific affordances better. The findings allow it to be concluded that, although globally Spanish political parties do not fully exploit the platform’s affordances and tend to use it as a unilateral tool for promotion, the most engaging posts are those favoring interaction and geared toward politainment.

Political Challenges of the Climate-Changed Society

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (01) ◽  
pp. 13-17
Author(s):  
David Schlosberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

We are at a turning point when it comes to the political implications of climate change. Given the reality of a future in a climate-changed world, it is time for us—broadly as a species, but particularly as academics—to move beyond the foci of the last few decades on the politics of preventing climate change through global agreements. There is a growing literature on the obvious need to slow the impacts of climate change, develop postcarbon energy systems, and design new forms of global environmental governance. Beyond these immediate needs, however, climate change poses a range of new problems and requires a broader research agenda for a climate-challenged politics.

scholarly journals Risk perceptions and public debates on climate change: a conceptualisation based on the theory of a functionally-differentiated society

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (49) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Markus Rhomberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Climate Change Risks ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Definition Of

Mass media and its mechanisms of production and selection play a crucial role in the definition of climate change risks. Different form of logic in the political, scientific and media systems are vital aspects in the public debate on this issue. A theoretical analysis of these aspects needs a framework in terms of social theory: Luhmann’s concept of a functionally-differentiated society and the mechanisms of structural couplings could help to understand the relations and interplay of these systems in the climate-debate. Based on this framework and various empirical studies, this paper suggests: different logics lead to different climate-definitions in science, politics and mass media. Climate change became interesting, but not until it was located in the political decision-making process. Climate issues become publicly interesting, when they are clear, contentious and can be linked to Elite-Persons. In contrast to scientific communication, news media make great efforts to be clear and definite in their communications.

scholarly journals Young Climate Protesters’ Mobilization Availability: Climate Marches and School Strikes Compared

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Rainsford ◽  
Clare Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Environmental Activism ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Survey Responses

Although there is a developing strand of literature on young people’s participation in environmental activism, there have been few systematic comparisons of their participation in different forms of environmental activism. This article compares the participation of young people and their older counterparts in climate change marches and Global Climate Strikes (GCSs). The agential and structural factors that draw people into protest participation are, in general terms, well recognized. However, it is also recognized that the factors that lead to particular types of protest on certain issues might not be the same as those that lead to different types of protest on different issues. In this article, we keep the protest issue constant (climate change), and make comparisons across different forms of climate protest (marches and school strikes). We coin the term “mobilization availability”, which is a useful way to understand why young people are differentially mobilized into different types of climate change protest. Our notion of mobilization availability invites scholars to consider the importance of the interplay of the supply and demand for protest in understanding who protests and why. We analyse data collected using standardized protest survey methodology (n = 643). In order to account for response rate bias, which is an acute problem when studying young people’s protest survey responses, we weighted the data using propensity score adjustments. We find that the youth-oriented supply of protest evoked by GCS mobilized higher numbers of young people into climate protest than did the more adult-dominated climate marches. GCS did this by providing accessible forms of protest, which reduced the degree of structural availability required to encourage young people to protest on the streets, and by emotionally engaging them. Indeed, the young people we surveyed at the GCSs were considerably more angry than their adult counterparts, and also angrier than young people on other climate protests. Our conceptual and empirical innovations make this paper an important contribution to the literature on young people’s political participation.

Youth Advancing Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Tasha Elizarde ◽  
Kate McWilliams ◽  
Kelsey Schober ◽  
Brian Conwell ◽  
Carly Dennis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Leadership Team ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Climate Action

Abstract In August 2018, twenty-five young change-makers from Alaska attended the first ever youth dialogue hosted by former Governor Bill Walker's Climate Action Leadership Team (CALT). Five of the dialogue attendees, Tasha Elizarde, Kate McWilliams, Kelsey Schober, Brian Conwell, and Carly Dennis, describe their experiences as young people in the climate movement. They begin by describing their experiences with climate change in Alaska, the work they do within the climate movement, what inspires their work, how the political and economic environment influences their work, and conclude with how social science can support climate work.

Political participation, mobilisation and the internet

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
John Bynner ◽  
Walter R. Heinz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Youth Movements ◽  
Use Of The Internet

Youth prospects are related to the possibility of participating in the political process, including political activism, mobilisation, and the internet. The focus is on political education and engagement in use of the internet, exemplified by the impressive, digitalised campaigns launched internationally on such issues as climate change and saving the planet. Young people perceive the political process as mainly online. Political socialisation takes place via social media where the interest in national and European issue is rather limited. Media competence must be developed early and organised as a ‘toolbox’ for dealing with the character of communications. New youth movements like “Fridays for Future”, however, have mobilised youth to participate in the debate about climate change and young people’s voting preferences in national and EU elections and are also addressed.

Concepts of Future Generations

Futures ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 363-379
Author(s):  
Julia Nordblad
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Problem Posing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Identity Problem ◽  
Climate Economics ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Brundtland Report

This chapter examines how the relationship between present and future generations has been articulated and envisaged in four discussions on climate change and global environmental crises from the late 1980s onward. Nordblad exemplifies how the very concept of future generations harbours disparate and sometimes conflicting views over the extent future generations can be known, and the political, economic, and ethical complexities embedded in constructions of the relationship between present and future generations. She explores climate economics with its presumptions about substitutable and transgenerational values; Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, which describes future generations as a call for moral regeneration; the Brundtland Report, which emphasizes solidarity in the allocation of common resources; and the academic discussion on the non-identity problem, posing our relation to future generations as a moral and political enigma.

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