The 18th International Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE) of the International Environmental Communication Association will take place from June 23 to 27, 2025, in Hobart, Tasmania (Australia). CAIS researcher Henri Mütschele, who is part of the CAIS research program “Social Cohesion in Digital Media Environments,” will present his research there in an online presentation.
In his presentation titled “Climate Movements as Catalysts in Environmental Communication? Analysing and Reflecting on Persuasive Functions,” he analyzes the persuasive functions of climate movements. His study addresses two research questions: What persuasive functions do both movements use in their communicated interpretations, demands and actions? How justified are their claims and what argument types support them? To achieve this, an analytical framework for manual quantitative content analysis, combining framing and argument analysis, has been developed and applied to the public-strategic communication of Fridays for Future and Letzte Generation (Last Generation) in their press releases and tweets during the observation period from 10/2021 to 05/2024. The novel combined framing and argument analysis permits a detailed examination of persuasive functions in climate movements’ public-strategic communication. Furthermore, it contributes to a better understanding of the ways in which environmental actors can facilitate public opinion formation through persuasive agency.
More information about COCE 2025: https://event.fourwaves.com/coce2025/pages
COCE 2025 program: https://event.fourwaves.com/coce2025/schedule