Thesis advisor: Michael Cermak / Invasive invertebrates are common in the United States and their effects on local ecosystems can have detrimental consequences extending beyond biological processes to economics and other social arenas. Over anthropogenic time, human value systems were woven into the perspectives of nature to form a social constructionist perspective on the natural world. We strive toward a certain closeness with nature, and, in effect, attempt to understand it. Through comparison of the discussion of invasive species in online public media and scientific journal articles, this paper examines how nature is socially constructed in different contexts. The study demonstrated that journalists used anthropomorphism 70% more often than researchers, and wrote about social value categories, including economics, aesthetics, and ecological effects 85% more often than scientists, on average. In general, online news journalists used language that was considered negative or suggestive 78% more often than scientists. Environmental issues do not occur in a bubble, so it is imperative to realize that the interactions between all living things, including humans, drive both biological and sociological processes. These findings can help guide how we understand media production about invasive species. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_102191 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Arsenault, Arielle Lynn |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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