Belief in change: the role of media and communications in driving action on climate change

Happer, C. (2017) Belief in change: the role of media and communications in driving action on climate change. In: Elliott, A., Cullis, J. and Damodaran, V. (eds.) Climate Change and the Humanities: Historical, Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Contemporary Environmental Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan: London, pp. 177-197. ISBN 9781137551238 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-55124-5_9)

Abstract

Climate change is a collective action problem as much as it is a physical one, however, in spite of high levels of awareness and a broad acceptance of the science, there has been no public consensus on the need to prioritise action. This chapter explores the role of current communications processes in inhibiting the development of such public sentiment. It draws on a circuits of communications framework which addresses production processes, and the structures which underpin them, patterns in media content and how audiences receive media messages, including online interactions. It will argue that these have operated to shift political priorities and foster feelings of powerlessness whilst in fact collectively publics can play a crucial role in shifting the parameters of the debate.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Happer, Dr Catherine
• Authors: Happer, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• ISBN: 9781137551238
• Published Online: 03 November 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Author
• First Published: First published in Climate Change and the Humanities: Historical, Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Contemporary Environmental Crisis: 177-197
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy