Study On Mechanism Of Discourse Empowerment In Environmental Protests

The environmental protests nowadays are valuable samples for discussing the social changes,media innovation and public administration in transition period of China.As a significant feature at present,discourse protest based on Internet has becoming the essential point for examining native environmental protests.Contentious discourses producing,contentious power generating and contentious appeal achieving successively form the principle of contentious discourse practicing.Among these environmental protests,anti-incineration plants movements make up a relatively significant share,which are becoming increasingly serious.This thesis based on the case analysis of anti-incineration plants movement occurred in Zhongtai Village,Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province,and focused on the online contentious discourses produced by underclass.The main purpose of this thesis is analyzing how the underclass utilize social public opinion to influence the environmental policy making process,by the practicing of contentious discourses.The thesis figures out that in the anti-incineration plants movement,underclass actively establish public sphere online,and subtly using rhetoric to produce and spread contentious discourses which eventually shapes the public opinion.Specifically,ideographs,context,metaphors,images and articulation are the five main rhetoric for producing contentious discourses,which bring out the effects of emphasizing environmental threat and dispelling government authority.The thesis gives the conclusion that the underclass adhere to the principle of discourse empowerment when involving in environmental protests.The environmental policy making process can be regarded as a gaming field for various powers.Structural opportunity supply is relatively insufficient in transition period of China,which results in the switching from institution empowerment to discourse empowerment when underclass encountering environmental predicament.Discourse empowerment provides underclass with alternative channel to express their wills.However,this contentious principle is representing the absence of public participation in public policies,which may destroy the communication between underclass and government as well,and could even lead to uncontrollable mass violent incidents.Consequently,only by consummating the rules and regulations of public opinion admitting,and encouraging fully public participation,can the environmental protests be transformed to environmental shared governance.