Unravelling the threads: discourses of sustainability and consumption in an online forum

Cooper, G, Green, N, Burningham, K, Evans, D and Jackson, T (2012) Unravelling the threads: discourses of sustainability and consumption in an online forum Environmental Communication: a journal of nature and culture, 6 (1). 101 - 118. ISSN 1752-4032

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Abstract

This paper analyzes an online discussion that followed an article published by UK environmental activist and journalist George Monbiot (2007) in The Guardian online newspaper. The analysis addresses the ways in which participants in an online forum debate responded to the tensions and contradictions between lifestyle, consumption and sustainability highlighted in the original article. The discursive construction of class, green political orientations and identities, visions of “the good life”, and appeals to religion and science, are highlighted throughout the analysis – as are the discursive strategies for positioning self, other and audience in the debate. The argument emphasizes the heterogeneity of discursive positioning, and reflects on the role of social media in the politics of consumption and sustainability, especially given the inherent reflexivity of web forums as online communicative forms.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an electronic version of an article published in Cooper G, Green N, Burningham K, Evans D, Jackson T (2012). Unravelling the threads: discourses of sustainability and consumption in an online forum. Environmental Communication: a journal of nature and culture 6(1):101-118. ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION: A JOURNAL OF NATURE AND CULTURE is available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17524032.2011.642080
Related URLs:	Publisher
Divisions:	Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > Centre for Environmental Strategy Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences > Sociology
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	09 May 2012 11:19
Last Modified:	23 Sep 2013 19:20
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/342994

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