The Swedish gasoline tax - A battlefield between the people and the elite? : A cultural performative analysis of the antagonisms in the Swedish gasoline tax debate.
(2020) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM02 20201LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
- Abstract
- The focus of this thesis is the debate regarding gasoline taxes in Sweden which is an example of a polarised sustainability debate. The aim is to get an in-depth understanding of the antagonisms of the debate by looking into how the pro and contra sides create and maintain cultural legitimacy and societal resonance through discursive struggles. Moreover, this thesis explores the framing struggles performed at the public stages, such as the mass media and social media, by actors trying to shape attitudes and collective sensemaking concerning the gasoline tax. The cultural performative framework developed by Geels & Verhees (2011) is tested by its applicability to this debate while analysing the pro and contra-sides through the lens of the... (More)
- The focus of this thesis is the debate regarding gasoline taxes in Sweden which is an example of a polarised sustainability debate. The aim is to get an in-depth understanding of the antagonisms of the debate by looking into how the pro and contra sides create and maintain cultural legitimacy and societal resonance through discursive struggles. Moreover, this thesis explores the framing struggles performed at the public stages, such as the mass media and social media, by actors trying to shape attitudes and collective sensemaking concerning the gasoline tax. The cultural performative framework developed by Geels & Verhees (2011) is tested by its applicability to this debate while analysing the pro and contra-sides through the lens of the five dimensions suggested by the framework. The empirical material for analysing the debate mainly consists of a selection of 100 articles published in Swedish newspapers. Findings from the media analysis demonstrate that the debate circles around a climate change frame used on the pro-side and an injustice frame used on the contra-side. I argue that the increasing support for framings against the gasoline tax can be understood through the relatively high actor credibility of the contra-side, the perceived centrality by its followers, the connection with its audiences’ everyday lives, and an increasing macro-cultural resonance of the used framings. One way that the contra-side creates cultural resonance is by amplifying that the climate change framing is used by the elites and the injustice framing is presented by the people. This rhetoric has populist tendencies and parallels can be drawn to a changing political landscape in Sweden. This thesis thus presents a cultural perspective that is often overlooked in research concerned with transition journeys, even though attitudes towards mitigation efforts such as the gasoline tax are highly dependent on the current culture. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9011836
- author
- Larsson, Matilda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MESM02 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Sustainability science, Gasoline tax, Sweden, Environmental politics, Framing, Cultural legitimacy, Populism
- publication/series
- Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
- report number
- 2020:009
- language
- English
- id
- 9011836
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-08 13:35:53
- date last changed
- 2020-06-08 13:35:53
@misc{9011836,
abstract = {{The focus of this thesis is the debate regarding gasoline taxes in Sweden which is an example of a polarised sustainability debate. The aim is to get an in-depth understanding of the antagonisms of the debate by looking into how the pro and contra sides create and maintain cultural legitimacy and societal resonance through discursive struggles. Moreover, this thesis explores the framing struggles performed at the public stages, such as the mass media and social media, by actors trying to shape attitudes and collective sensemaking concerning the gasoline tax. The cultural performative framework developed by Geels & Verhees (2011) is tested by its applicability to this debate while analysing the pro and contra-sides through the lens of the five dimensions suggested by the framework. The empirical material for analysing the debate mainly consists of a selection of 100 articles published in Swedish newspapers. Findings from the media analysis demonstrate that the debate circles around a climate change frame used on the pro-side and an injustice frame used on the contra-side. I argue that the increasing support for framings against the gasoline tax can be understood through the relatively high actor credibility of the contra-side, the perceived centrality by its followers, the connection with its audiences’ everyday lives, and an increasing macro-cultural resonance of the used framings. One way that the contra-side creates cultural resonance is by amplifying that the climate change framing is used by the elites and the injustice framing is presented by the people. This rhetoric has populist tendencies and parallels can be drawn to a changing political landscape in Sweden. This thesis thus presents a cultural perspective that is often overlooked in research concerned with transition journeys, even though attitudes towards mitigation efforts such as the gasoline tax are highly dependent on the current culture.}},
author = {{Larsson, Matilda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
title = {{The Swedish gasoline tax - A battlefield between the people and the elite? : A cultural performative analysis of the antagonisms in the Swedish gasoline tax debate.}},
year = {{2020}},
}