Date of Award:

5-2014

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Sociology and Anthropology

Department name when degree awarded

Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology

Committee Chair(s)

Peggy Petrzelka

Committee

Peggy Petrzelka

Committee

Douglas Jackson-Smith

Committee

Reed Geertsen

Abstract

The rapid growth of unconventional oil and gas development in the United States has greatly increased the production of these minerals, but has also raised the public’s concern over the dangers involved in this process. Due to the contested nature of unconventional development gaining an understanding of both how the public perceives this development and the influences on these perceptions is vital. As several previous research studies have investigated public perceptions this project addresses the second of these requirements.

This is done using qualitative methods to analyze the content of the online communications of proponents and opponents of this development. The organizations sampled include two anti-fracking groups and two industry trade association. Their websites were inductively coded to reveal the framing that is used by each in their presentation of the arguments for or against this activity. These categories were then used to categorize the framing used in two South Texas newspapers. The results of these stages are then compared and contrasted.

The findings showed that the framing of the arguments made by proponents and opponents paralleled each other in several interesting ways, and that proponent frames were heavily favored by the news outlets studies. This provides an increased understanding of the non-experiential influences on residents’ views of this activity, and furthers sociological knowledge pertaining to how individuals’ form their perceptions of unconventional development.

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