Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems
Sustainability issues are typically characterized by high complexity and uncertainty. In light of this, communication plays a crucial role in coping with these challenges. The previous debate on sustainability communication has largely focused on how to communicate sustainability issues to others. S...
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Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/7/2976 |
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doaj-83223412d4ec4132b1ec8e60d24e36a62020-11-24T21:41:43ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502013-07-01572976299010.3390/su5072976Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal SubsystemsMarco RieckmannGesa LüdeckeNorman LawsKatharina HetzeDaniel FischerDaniel SchulzJens NewigSustainability issues are typically characterized by high complexity and uncertainty. In light of this, communication plays a crucial role in coping with these challenges. The previous debate on sustainability communication has largely focused on how to communicate sustainability issues to others. Sustainability communication, however, involves more than sender oriented communication to persuade others (“communication of sustainability”); it also embraces processes of dialogue and discourse (“communication about sustainability”). Based on this distinction, we develop a typology of communication modes, including communication for sustainability. Inspired by the notion of functional communication systems, we explore sustainability communication in six societal subsystems, applying the typology of communication modes. Drawing mostly on examples from Germany, we find a shift from “communication of” towards “communication about” sustainability in most subsystems. While communication subsystems have a tendency towards operational closure, a variety of interlinkages exist. We discuss three key areas of “opening up” communication subsystems, leading to transdisciplinarity, societal deliberation and governance, each meeting one of sustainability’s core challenges.http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/7/2976Sustainability communicationtypology of communicationcommunication of. about and for sustainabilitytransdisciplinaritydeliberationgovernance |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Marco Rieckmann Gesa Lüdecke Norman Laws Katharina Hetze Daniel Fischer Daniel Schulz Jens Newig |
spellingShingle |
Marco Rieckmann Gesa Lüdecke Norman Laws Katharina Hetze Daniel Fischer Daniel Schulz Jens Newig Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems Sustainability Sustainability communication typology of communication communication of. about and for sustainability transdisciplinarity deliberation governance |
author_facet |
Marco Rieckmann Gesa Lüdecke Norman Laws Katharina Hetze Daniel Fischer Daniel Schulz Jens Newig |
author_sort |
Marco Rieckmann |
title |
Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems |
title_short |
Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems |
title_full |
Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems |
title_fullStr |
Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Communication Regarding Sustainability: Conceptual Perspectives and Exploration of Societal Subsystems |
title_sort |
communication regarding sustainability: conceptual perspectives and exploration of societal subsystems |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2013-07-01 |
description |
Sustainability issues are typically characterized by high complexity and uncertainty. In light of this, communication plays a crucial role in coping with these challenges. The previous debate on sustainability communication has largely focused on how to communicate sustainability issues to others. Sustainability communication, however, involves more than sender oriented communication to persuade others (“communication of sustainability”); it also embraces processes of dialogue and discourse (“communication about sustainability”). Based on this distinction, we develop a typology of communication modes, including communication for sustainability. Inspired by the notion of functional communication systems, we explore sustainability communication in six societal subsystems, applying the typology of communication modes. Drawing mostly on examples from Germany, we find a shift from “communication of” towards “communication about” sustainability in most subsystems. While communication subsystems have a tendency towards operational closure, a variety of interlinkages exist. We discuss three key areas of “opening up” communication subsystems, leading to transdisciplinarity, societal deliberation and governance, each meeting one of sustainability’s core challenges. |
topic |
Sustainability communication typology of communication communication of. about and for sustainability transdisciplinarity deliberation governance |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/7/2976 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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