Organizations media & society part 2
Week 9 Lecture 7
Politicization
1. What is politicization?
Why care about the political context?
Societal role of organizations changed in mediatized societies.
● Increased visibility due to mediatization.
● Increased social and moral expectations beyond governmental and legal
obligations.
“[...] the political environment plays an increasingly important role for concepts
central to the field of public relations, like corporations’ social license and their
societal engagement.” (Van der Meer & Jonkman, 2021)
"[...] de politieke omgeving speelt een steeds belangrijkere rol voor concepten die centraal staan in het vakgebied
van public relations, zoals de maatschappelijke licentie van bedrijven en hun maatschappelijke betrokkenheid.
Approaching ‘politicization’
● ‘Politicization, in the most general terms, means the demand for, or the act of,
transporting an issue or an institution into the sphere of politics, making
previously unpolitical matters political.’
Politisering, in de meest algemene termen, betekent de vraag naar, of de handeling van, het
overbrengen van een kwestie of een instelling naar de sfeer van de politiek, waardoor voorheen
onpolitieke zaken politiek worden.
● ’...moving something into the realm of public choice, thus presupposing the
possibility to make collectively binding decisions on that matter.’
...het verplaatsen van iets naar het domein van publieke keuze, wat dus de mogelijkheid veronderstelt
om collectief bindende beslissingen te nemen over die kwestie.
● ‘The more salient the issue, the more actors and people participate in the
debate, the more positions are polarized, the more politicized a decision or
institution is.’ (Zürn, 2019)
Hoe saillanter de kwestie, hoe meer actoren en mensen deelnemen aan het debat, hoe meer
standpunten gepolariseerd zijn, hoe meer een beslissing of instelling gepolitiseerd is.
○ Politisering is vaak gerelateerd aan de intensiteit van het publieke
debat en de mate waarin mensen gepolariseerde standpunten
innemen.
Conceptualization of politicization by De Wilde (2011)
● Salience
○ Greater (media) visibility
● Expansion
○ More actors involved in discussion
○ More topics connected to the issue
, ● Polarization
○ More extreme position on the issue
Salience
● Increase in public visibility.
● Example Urgenda case: Lawsuit against the Dutch government for not taking
sufficient action to limit GHG emissions.
● Agenda-setting function of focusing events: ‘Focusing events have been
defined as sudden and harmful events, oftentimes referring to violent threats
by minority groups as an effective means to overcome existing biases (Cobb
& Elder, 1971).
● ‘... rapid and sudden occurrence of damages’
○ Examples from climate policy: extreme weather events, but also
climate summits and related political activism
(in Wonneberger & Vliegenthart 2021, p. 702).
(Issue) Expansion
● Not touching upon one specific issue only, but spilling over to other (higher-
level) issues as well.
● Example Urgenda case: “... media attention for the Urgenda case triggered
greater levels of media attention for climate policies and climate change in
general.”
(Actor) Expansion
● More actors are getting involved in the debate about an issue.
Polarization
Opinions on the issue get more controversial/extreme:
● ‘The more opinions of involved parties diverge and crystallize into opposing
groups, the stronger polarization of opinion contributing to increasing
politicization.’ (De Wilde, 2011)
Hoe meer meningen van betrokken partijen uiteenlopen en zich uitkristalliseren in tegengestelde
groepen, hoe sterker de polarisatie van meningen die bijdraagt aan toenemende politisering.
2. Navigating Politicization Part 1
How can organizations operate and communicate in a politicized world?
Recap: Van der Meer & Jonkman (2021)
● Societies politically divided on controversial issues (polarization)
○ Often manifested in hostility (vijandigheid) towards the out-group,
strong opinions with little room for compromise.
● Increasing pressure also for organizations to take a stance.
○ Social license to operate
○ Issue management
,Reactions of the audience
● In a polarized society:
○ Taking stance = picking sides
○ Risk of backlash from ‘the other side’
● How to anticipate the reaction of consumers?
○ Attempt to identify groups in Hong & Li (2020)
The public segmentation model
● How does corporate social advocacy influence…
○ Purchase vs boycott intention
○ Reputation of the company
● Influenced by…
○ Consumer-company congruence
○ Company-cause fit
○ Consumer-cause fit
● Moderated by…
○ Issue involvement
What influences how people think about CSA?
, The public segmentation model
Three types of people:
● Boycotters: do not support or like the company, high level of boycott
intention.
● Noncotters: medium level.
○ Vertonen een gemiddeld niveau van zowel koopintentie als
boycotintentie.
● Supporters: do support and like the company, low level of boycott intention.
● Congruence has a strong effect on behavioral intentions.
○ High level of congruence = more likely to support.
○ Low level of congruence = more likely to boycott.
● People with low issue involvement are more easily influenced when
congruence is low.
○ Low issue involvement = less stable attitudes.
○ A specific issue = more easily converted to boycotters/supporters.
3. Navigating politicization part 2: Political activism beyond companies
Politicization as a window of opportunity
● Politicization as a way to challenge status quo.
○ Make issues an object of public debate.
○ Give room to previously unheard voices.
○ Open up opportunities for change.
● Crucial function of non-political actors to become active as a ‘corrective’ for
the political system.
Beyond companies
● Research often focused on how corporations are involved in politics.
○ CSA, political activism, CSR.
● Very little focus on actors other than companies.
○ Established NGO’s.
○ Grassroot activists & activist groups.
● Research fails to understand the varieties of structures, activities,
communication styles, and sources of capital.
Power struggles: A sociological approach to activist communication (Wolf,
2018)
● De focus van deze studie ligt op Bourdieu's ideeën met betrekking tot
activisme en macht, om zo activistische communicatie te analyseren.
● Power equalizers: traditionele media en nieuwe technologieën zijn
aanbevolen voor activisten.
