Grassroots activist groups have received limited attention in Australia and research-based examinations of their communication and relationship to social change are rare. My central research question asks: what changes are occurring in the approach of grassroots activists to contemporary communication, and, as a form of social relations, does this differ from the approach of state and business organisations? My thesis analyses the scope and significance of three grassroots activists campaigns in south-west Victoria, Australia, between 1995 and 2003 that are distinctive for their sustained vigour and inclusive, ethical and novel approaches to communication. They are: Werribee Residents Against Toxic Dump (WRATD), Batesford and Geelong Action Group (BAGAG) and Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN). My thesis also focuses on the groups response to public relations issued by the state and business interests they opposed. To investigate the case study data that is face to face interviews with case study participants, media transcripts and textual samples from the campaigns, such as flyers and newsletters I use a double research methodology: discourse analysis and reception analysis. These methods reveal how meanings are created that influence power and control in society and any transformations in this. As an overarching framework for analysis, I apply Ulrich Becks theories of risk society, reflexive modernisation and individualisation. These theories discuss social conditions transforming the contemporary world. In particular, I use them to explain the growth of sub-political networks, what grassroots activists seek to promote and their capacity to create change in state and business sectors. I also draw on a range of other communicative and citizenship theories that shed light on some of the invisible effects of communication on society, particularly unethical practices. Lastly, my thesis sets out an alternative set of social relations to public relations that I call public communication. The principles of public communication are distilled from the case studies and are inclusive of all organisational types and seek to address the inherent problems and flawed coherences of public relations. The results of this research provide policy decision makers, educators, activists and other communication strategists with deep and unusual understanding of public communication and public relations and its relationship to social change. Overall, this thesis explores a rupture a point of transformation in the relationship between contemporary civil, state and business sectors in Australia and the surfacing of a new discursive formation. In particular, it explores a transformation in texts, discursive practice and social practice (Fairclough 1999) and analyses its significance, within an emerging and distinct discursive formation, peculiar to late modernity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/246411 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Demetrious, Kristin Mary, kristin.demetrious@deakin.edu.au |
| Publisher | Deakin University. Communication and Creative Arts |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.deakin.edu.au/disclaimer.html), Copyright Kristin Mary Demetrious |
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