Media’s role in pro-environmental practice changes – proposing an ANT perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe content of media texts should be considered as a critical factor in the constitution, maintenance and transition of practices. That is the outset and basic point of this article, which suggests an actor-network theoretical approach in order to provide a better understanding of the role media can play in pro-environmental practice changes. There is an exchange between articulations in media texts and performances of social practice, and the study of meaning content in media texts and media-practice interactions is therefore useful in the analysis of societal transition processes. From a critical discussion of conventional media effect theories, the article proceeds to its main objective of presenting ANT as a useful approach in the analysis of media-practice interactions. It is suggested that texts and the meaning units within them can be conceived as actors, which connect to other human and non-human actors in and beyond media texts.