Disengaging citizens? Climate change communication and public receptivity

ABSTRACT

The mainstreaming of climate change through processes of media communication and political advocacy carries with it an imagined public. Drawing on qualitative data from 11 focus groups and 19 life history interviews carried out in the Republic of Ireland¹ in 2010, the paper reveals a significant mismatch between the perceived characteristics of this imagined audience, and the practices and experiences of a socially embedded Irish public. Moreover, we observe the emergence of restrictive forms of discourse around climate change that leave little room for connecting with the topic, thereby serving to delegitimise it as a matter of public interest. Given the necessity for climate action and decarbonisation efforts that reach across diverse social and cultural arenas, we see potential for a broadening of public debate in line with key principles of deliberative democracy, with a view to achieving a more open and inclusive politics of climate change. Although we recognise the limitations of mainstream deliberative democracy thinking, including its inherent rationalism, we believe that its explicit commitment to inclusiveness and transparency offers a viable alternative to current disengagement and exclusion of citizens from meaningful climate change debate and action.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• communication
• public
• deliberative democracy
• Ireland

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Conor Little and Diarmuid Torney for their very helpful feedback and for considering us for this symposium.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Henceforth Ireland.

2. Although ‘actual publics’ is somewhat inept it suits the contrastive purpose of the article.

3. An alternative explanation for its success for example might possibly be that an expanding economistic hegemony within Irish society, especially during the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’ economic boom from 1995–2007, made economic reasons for pro-environmental behaviour more socially acceptable in contrast to, openly using ethical or moral justifications which have possibly lost currency during that period.

4. The research is from the first author’s doctoral thesis (cf. Fox, 2014).

5. Presumably he meant additional payments on residential housing such as the local property tax.

6. It seems he considered newer cars as more environmentally-friendly possibly due to efficiency gains.