Fracking on YouTube: Exploring Risks, Benefits and Human Values
Abstract
Fracking or the extraction of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing of rock has become a contested topic, especially in the United States, where it has been deployed on a large scale, and in Europe where it is still largely speculative. Research is beginning to investigate the environmental and economic costs and benefits as well as public perceptions of this new energy technology. However, so far the social and psychological impact of fracking on those involved in it, such as gas workers, or those living in the vicinity of fracking sites, has escaped the attention of the social science research community. In this article we begin to fill this gap through a small-scale thematic analysis of representations of fracking in fifty YouTube videos, where the trailer of a controversial film, Gasland (Fox, 2010), has had a marked impact. Results show that the videos discuss not only environmental and economic costs and benefits of fracking but also social and psychological impacts on individuals and communities. These videos reveal a human face of fracking that remains all too often hidden from view.
References
Bandura A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: Freeman.
Bonauito M., Breakwell G.M. and Cano I. 1998. ‘Identity processes and environmental threat: the effects of nationalism and local identity upon perception of beach pollution’. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 6(3): 157–75. CrossRef.
Braun V. and Clarke V. 2006. ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3: 77–101. CrossRef.
Breakwell G.M. 1986. Coping with Threatened Identities. London: Methuen.
Breakwell G.M. 2010a. ‘Models of risk construction: some applications to climate change’. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 1(6): 765–907.
Breakwell G.M. 2010b. ‘Resisting Representations and Identity Processes’. Papers in Social Representations 19: 6.1–6.11.
Briggle A. 2013. ‘Duck, rabbit, gas well: A Gestalt theory of the fracking debate’. Science Progress (blog), 17 January: http://scienceprogress.org/2013/01/duck-rabbit-gas-well/.
Callicott B. 1989. In Defense of the Land Ethic: Essays in Environmental Philosophy. Albany, NY: State University Press of New York Press.
Chandler M.J., Lalonde C.E., Sokol B. and Hallett D. 2003. ‘Personal persistence, identity development, and suicide: a study of native and non-native North American adolescents’. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 68(2): Serial No.273.
Coyle A. and Murtagh N. 2014. ‘Qualitative approaches to research using Identity Process Theory’. In Jaspal R. and Breakwell G.M (eds.) Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–64. CrossRef.
Devine-Wright P. 2005. ‘Beyond NIMBYism: Towards an integrated framework for understanding public perceptions of wind energy’. Wind Energy 8: 125–139. CrossRef.
Devine-Wright P. 2009. ‘Rethinking NIMBYism: The role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place-protective action’. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 19(6): 426–41. CrossRef.
Devine-Wright P. and Howes Y. 2010. ‘Disruptions to place attachment and the protection of restorative environments: A wind energy case study’. Journal of Environmental Psychology 30(1): 271–90. CrossRef.
Dixon J., Durrheim K. and Di Masso A. 2014. ‘Places, identities and geopolitical change: Exploring the strengths and limits of Identity Process Theory’. In Jaspal R. and Breakwell G.M (eds.) Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 270–94. CrossRef.
Elliot R. 1992. ‘Intrinsic value, environmental obligation, and naturalness’. The Monist 75: 138–60. CrossRef.
Engelder T. 2011. ‘Should fracking stop? No, it's too valuable’. Nature 447: 271–75.
Finewood M.H. and Stroup L.J. 2012. ‘Fracking and the neoliberalization of the hydro-social cycle in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale’. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education 147: 72–9. CrossRef.
Forbis R Jr. and Kear A. 2011. ‘Fracking across the USA: Disparate political responses to unconventional energy development’. Western Political Science Association 2011 Annual Meeting Paper.
Fox J. 2010. Gasland. New Video Group.
Freeman B. and Chapman S. 2007. ‘Is “YouTube” telling or selling you something? Tobacco content on the YouTube video-sharing website’. Tobacco Control 16(3): 207–10. CrossRef.
Howarth R.W. and Ingraffea A. 2011. ‘Should fracking stop? Yes, it's too high risk’. Nature 477: 271–75. CrossRef.
Jasanoff S. 2010. ‘A new climate for society’. Theory, Culture and Society 27(2–3): 233–53. CrossRef.
Jaspal R. 2014. ‘Social psychological debates about identity’. In Jaspal R. and Breakwell G.M (eds.) Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–19. CrossRef.
Jaspal R. and Cinnirella M. 2010. ‘Coping with potentially incompatible identities: accounts of religious, ethnic and sexual identities from British Pakistani men who identify as Muslim and gay’. British Journal of Social Psychology 49(4): 849–70. CrossRef.
Jaspal R., Nerlich B. and Cinnirella M. 2014. ‘Human responses to climate change: Social representation, identity and socio-psychological action’. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture 8 (1): 110–30. CrossRef.
Jaspal R. and Nerlich B. 2014a. ‘Fracking in the UK press: Threat dynamics in an unfolding debate’. Public Understanding of Science 23 (3) 348–63. CrossRef.
Jaspal R. and Nerlich B. 2014b. ‘When climate science became climate politics: British media representations of climate change in 1988’. Public Understanding of Science 23 (2): 122–41. CrossRef.
Jaspal R., Nerlich B. and Koteyko N. 2013. ‘Contesting science by appealing to its norms: Readers discuss climate science in The Daily Mail’. Science Communication 35(3): 383–410. CrossRef.
Keelan J., Pavri-Garcia V., Tomlinson G. and Wilson K. 2007. ‘YouTube as a source of information on immunization: a content analysis’. JAMA 298(21): 2482–4. CrossRef.
Lashley M. 2012. ‘Lip dubbing on YouTube: Participatory culture and cultural globalization’. Transformative Works and Cultures 11. (online) CrossRef.
Lyons E. 1996. ‘Coping with social change: processes of social memory in the reconstruction of identities’. In Breakwell G.M. and Lyons E. (eds.) Changing European Identities: Social Psychological Analyses of Social Change, pp. 31–40. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Mooney C. 2011. ‘The truth about fracking’. Scientific American 305: 80–5. CrossRef.
Negro E.E. 2012. ‘Fracking wars: Federal, state and local conflicts over the regulation of natural gas activities’. Zoning and Planning Law Report 35(2): 1–13.
Nerlich B. 2010. “‘Climategate”: Paradoxical metaphors and political paralysis’. Environmental Values 19(4): 419–42. CrossRef.
Nerlich B. and Jaspal R. 2013. ‘UK media representations of carbon capture and storage: Actors, frames and metaphors’. Metaphor and the Social World 3 (1): 35–53. CrossRef.
O'Hara S., Humphrey M., Jaspal R., Nerlich B. and Poberezshkaya M. 2012. ‘Shale gas extraction in the UK: What people think’ http://www.scribd.com/doc/98974352/Public-Perceptions-of-Shale-Gas-in-the-UK-7.
O'Hara, Humphrey S. M., Jaspal R., Nerlich B. and Poberezshkaya M. 2013. ‘Public perception of shale gas extraction in the UK: How people's views are changing’ http://ground-gassolutions.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Nottm_PublicPerceptionsShaleGasUK_Mar2013.pdf.
Owen R., Bessant J. and Heintz M. (eds) 2013. Responsible Innovation: Managing the Responsible Innovation of Science and Innovation in Society. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. CrossRef.
Pandey A., Patni N., Singh M., Sood A. and Singh G. 2010. ‘YouTube as a source of information on the H1N1 influenza pandemic’. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 38(3): e1–e3. CrossRef.
Phadke R. 2011. ‘Resisting and reconciling Big Wind: Middle landscape politics in the New American West’. Antipode 43(3): 754–76. CrossRef.
Porter A.J. and Hellsten I.R. In press. ‘Investigating social media responses to complex social problems using a multi-determinant framework: The case of climategate on YouTube’. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. CrossRef.
The Royal Society and The Royal Academy of Engineering 2012. ‘Shale gas extraction in the UK: a review of hydraulic fracturing’. June 2012: royalsociety.org/policy/projects/shale-gas-extraction and raeng.org.uk/shale.
Schwartz S.H. 1992. ‘Universals in the content and structure of values: Theory and empirical tests in 20 countries’. In Zanna M. (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, pp. 1–65. New York: Academic Press.
Slezak M. 2012. ‘Methane leaks suggest fracking benefits exaggerated’. New Scientist, 21 November, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22521-methane-leaks-suggestfracking-benefits-exaggerated.html?goback=.gde_67258_member_188195707.
Steingraber, S. and others. 2011. ‘Letter to the Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State’. 12 December 2011. Available at: http://steingraber.com/word-press/wp-content/uploads/CancerFrackingDec12.pdf.
Stiles W.B. 1999. ‘Evaluating qualitative research’, Evidence-based Mental Health 2: 99–101. CrossRef.
Taebi B., Correljé A., Cuppen E., Dignum M. and Pesch U. 2014. ‘Responsible innovation and an endorsement of public values: the need for interdisciplinary research’. Journal of Responsible Innovation 1 (1): 118–124. CrossRef.
Van Sant G. 2012. Promised Land. Participant media.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: October 1, 2014
Issue published: October 2014
Keywords
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Article usage*
Total views and downloads: 27
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 0
Crossref: 6
-
In Our Backyard: Perceptions About Fracking, Science, and Health by Co...
-
Framing ‘fracking’: Exploring public perceptions of hydraulic fracturi...
-
Climate of Arrogance, Disengagement and Injustice
-
Stakeholder perspectives on shale gas fracking: a Q-method study of en...
-
Tackling Climate Change, Breaking the Frame of Modernity
-
Climate Change, Irreversible Change and Changing Perspectives
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
View options
PDF/ePub
View PDF/ePubGet access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.