Climate Change as Social Drama: Global Warming in the Public Sphere

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-504
Author(s):  
Steve Matthewman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Social Drama ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

scholarly journals Up with ecology, down with economy? The consolidation of the idea of climate change mitigation in the global public sphere

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 587-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomas Ylä-Anttila ◽  
Juho Vesa ◽  
Veikko Eranti ◽  
Anna Kukkonen ◽  
Tomi Lehtimäki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
Business Elites ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Change Mitigation ◽  
Over Time

Building on theories of valuation and evaluation, we develop an analytical framework that outlines six elements of the process of consolidation of an idea in the public sphere. We then use the framework to analyse the process of consolidation of the idea of climate change mitigation between 1997 and 2013, focusing on the interplay between ecological and economic evaluations. Our content analysis of 1274 articles in leading newspapers in five countries around the globe shows that (1) ecological arguments increase over time, (2) economic arguments decrease over time, (3) the visibility of environmental nongovernmental organizations as carriers of ecological ideas increases over time, (4) the visibility of business actors correspondingly decreases, (5) ecological ideas are increasingly adopted by political and business elites and (6) a compromise emerges between ecological and economic evaluations, in the form of the argument that climate change mitigation boosts, rather than hinders economic growth.

scholarly journals Comparing Climate Change Coverage in Canadian English and French-Language Print Media: Environmental Values, Media Cultures, and the Narration of Global Warming

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Young ◽  
Eric Dugas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
French Language ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article compares how climate change is presented in English- and French-language print media in Canada. In recent years, climate change has become an increasingly divisive issue, with the media playing a central role in the promotion of competing claims and narratives in the public sphere. Using concepts from environmental sociology and the sociology of journalism, we examine content from six English- and two French-language newspapers from 2007-2008 (N=2,245), and find significant evidence of both convergence and divergence across the language divide. Among the most significant findings are differences in how complexity is handled: English outlets present diverse coverage that is highly compartmentalized, while the French newspapers present a narrower range of coverage but with thematically richer articles that better link climate change issues to the realms of culture, politics, and economy.

Palaver and Consensus as Metaphors for the Public Sphere

2019 ◽  
pp. 564-579
Author(s):  
Uchenna Okeja
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
Social Drama ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Legitimation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
African Form

This chapter contributes to the rectification of a specific deficiency in political theory, namely, its lack of engagement with African political thought. It does this by exploring two metaphors for the public sphere in African philosophy: palaver and consensus. Specifically, it examines the different attempts to reconstruct these concepts to make explicit their possible contributions to political theory. As this analysis reveals, palaver and consensus are central to political legitimation, adjudication of conflicts, and general social interaction in African political thought. In contrast to views that argue both concepts designate an African form of democracy, this chapter proposes that they are better understood as metaphors for the public sphere, that is, as spaces for the enactment of a social drama where words become both a medium for the articulation of perspectives and the strategy for arresting the destructive potentials of anger. The chapter contends that the sort of public sphere embodied by palaver and consensus presents important challenges that should be taken seriously by normative political theory.

scholarly journals Et tabt årti? Dansk klimadækning siden COP15

Politik ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikkel Fugl Eskjær
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Sharp Drop ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Climate Crisis

Danish media coverage of climate change peaked in 2009 when Denmark hosted COP15. Like most other countries Denmark experienced a sharp drop in climate change reporting following the failure of COP15. It is only within recent years that Danish climate change agenda is showing signs of regaining some of its former strength. What can we learn from ten years of climate change reporting in Danish media? How is the climate crisis communicated in the public sphere? How much attention is payed to the climate change agenda and who gets to speak about the climate? The present investigation looks at ten years of Danish climate change reporting across different news media and media platforms, focusing on the development of the media’s climate change agenda and the sources that dominates climate change reporting.

Elite News Coverage of Climate Change

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Boykoff ◽  
Gesa Luedecke
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

During the past three decades, elite news media have become influential translators of climate change linking science, policy, and the citizenry. Historical trends in public discourse—shaped in significant part by elite media—demonstrate news media’s critical role in shaping public perception and the level of concern towards climate change. Media representations of climate change and global warming are embedded in social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions that influence individual-level processes such as everyday journalistic practices. Media have a strong influence on policy decision-making, attitudes, perspectives, intentions, and behavioral change, but those connections can be challenging to pinpoint; consequently, examinations of elite news coverage of climate change, particularly in recent decades, have sought to gain a stronger understanding of these complex and dynamic webs of interactions. In so doing, research has more effectively traced how media have taken on varied roles in the climate change debate, from watch dogs to lap dogs to guard dogs in the public sphere. Within these areas of research, psychological aspects of media influence have been relatively underemphasized. However, interdisciplinary and problem-focused research investigations of elite media coverage stand to advance considerations of public awareness, discourse, and engagement. Elite news media critically contribute to public discourse and policy priorities through their “mediating” and interpretative influences. Therefore, a review of examinations of these dynamics illuminate the bridging role of elite news coverage of climate change between formal science and policy, and everyday citizens in the public sphere.

Global warming in the public sphere

2007 ◽  
Vol 365 (1860) ◽  
pp. 2741-2776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Corfee-Morlot ◽  
Mark Maslin ◽  
Jacquelin Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Business Decision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Policy Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Public Sphere

Although the science of global warming has been in place for several decades if not more, only in the last decade and a half has the issue moved clearly into the public sphere as a public policy issue and a political priority. To understand how and why this has occurred, it is essential to consider the history of the scientific theory of the greenhouse effect, the evidence that supports it and the mechanisms through which science interacts with lay publics and other elite actors, such as politicians, policymakers and business decision makers. This article reviews why and how climate change has moved from the bottom to the top of the international political agenda. It traces the scientific discovery of global warming, political and institutional developments to manage it as well as other socially mediated pathways for understanding and promoting global warming as an issue in the public sphere. The article also places this historical overview of global warming as a public issue into a conceptual framework for understanding relationships between society and nature with emphasis on the co-construction of knowledge.

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