Social Constructions of Climate Futures: Reframing Science’s Harmful Impact Frame Across News Media, Social Movements, and Local Communities

Guenther, Lars; Ibrahim, Youssef; Lüdemann, Jana; O’Brian, Coral Iris; Pavenstädt, Christopher N.; Sievert, Inga Janina; Brüggemann, Michael; Rödder, Simone; Schnegg, Michael

doi:10.1080/17524032.2024.2305827

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…As climate change came to public understanding through scientific and quantified ways of representing futures, in particular through the utilization of modeling techniques (Aykut et al, 2019;Braunreiter et al, 2021), scholars highlighted the "cultural authority" of climate science over climate futures (Rödder et al, 2020). The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shape public, medial and political understandings of possible and plausible climate futures, communicating the risks of future catastrophic effects (Eriksson and Reischl, 2019;Guenther et al, 2024). The IPCCs relatively "generic, untailored and untargeted" communication (Howarth and Black 2015, p. 506) is seen as inadequate as a discursive mode for forming stronger engagement in climate politics (Bellamy, 2023).…”

Section: Theoretical Considerations 21 Future Visions and Post-politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Another world is possible? – Climate movements’ bounded politicization between science and politics

Pavenstädt

2024

Front. Polit. Sci.

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How we have come to think about climate futures has predominantly been shaped by science- and expert-driven assessments. As research turns to the role of future visions as a driver of social change and overcoming political gridlock, political struggles are understood as conflicts over making (alternative) desirable futures socially performative. The recent advent of the new climate movements (NCMs) has given rise to the assumption that they could contribute to a re-politicization of climate politics by introducing alternative future visions. Their names and slogans articulate future expectations, such as futures “worth studying for” (Fridays for Future) or averting extinction (Extinction Rebellion). Yet, research on the politicizing qualities of the NCMs is inconclusive. I use a new framework for examining (de-)politicization dynamics to study public communication of German factions of both movements from 2019 to 2022. The results underscore climate movements’ strong affiliation to science from their inception, yet over time, increasing attempts to adhere to principles of climate justice. However, climate movements still struggle to re-politicize climate futures beyond dominant positive visions of modernization and negative visions of collapse. I argue that this bounded politicization is indicative of the broader discursive dynamics that have weakened the ability to formulate alternative visions and discuss to what extent the centrality of scientific imaginative logics and understandings of the science–policy interface act to inhibit the articulation of alternative visions.

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Section: Theoretical Considerations 21 Future Visions and Post-politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Another world is possible? – Climate movements’ bounded politicization between science and politics

Pavenstädt

2024

Front. Polit. Sci.

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What Journalists Worry and Write About: Comparing Journalists’ Frames of Climate Futures with Respective News Frames

Kirchner,

Guenther,

Brüggemann

2024

Journalism Practice

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Social Constructions of Climate Futures: Reframing Science’s Harmful Impact Frame Across News Media, Social Movements, and Local Communities

Cited by 2 publications

References 45 publications

Another world is possible? – Climate movements’ bounded politicization between science and politics

Another world is possible? – Climate movements’ bounded politicization between science and politics

What Journalists Worry and Write About: Comparing Journalists’ Frames of Climate Futures with Respective News Frames

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