Abstract
International agreements for decarbonizing the energy sector imply an unprecedented strategy to pursue a social-ecological transformation. However, even within defined goals of transforming the energy sector, the complexity of social-ecological phenomena allows for multiple societal interpretations: The meanings ascribed to social-ecological phenomena are negotiated among social actors and shape the legitimacy of sustainability strategies. In this context, news media play the crucial role of conveying narratives, thereby offering different meanings for social-ecological problems (e.g., climate crisis) and solutions (e.g., renewable energy technologies). This also involves strategic struggles to maintain dominant narratives or construct new ones to secure legitimacy. Previous empirical research has shown incumbent energy organizations‘ capability of playing off disadvantageous narratives and pointed out a lack of strategic positioning of renewable energy initiatives. The purpose of this research is to identify a set of dominant media narratives beyond the boundaries of singular organizations to understand the broad societal meaning ascribed to the energy transition. Empirically, this research is interested in the energy transition in Austria, where a national strategy for reaching 100% electricity from renewable sources by 2030 was formulated. A multimodal analysis of verbal and visual cues of articles from the largest daily Austrian newspaper is conducted based on the analytical perspective of social semiotics. The findings contribute to taking on a critical meta-perspective on sustainability strategies and give insights into potential changes or stability in the context of the energy transition.
Presenters
Andrea VoglerPhD Student, Research and Teaching Assistant, Research institute for Cooperations and Cooperatives, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Sustaining Crisis: (de)growth, Alternative Economies, Greenwashing, Social and Political Movements
KEYWORDS
Energy Transition, Narratives, Media Analysis, Critical Perspective on Sustainability Strategies
Digital Media
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