Just Another PR Tactic?: Discourse, Expertise, and Social License in the “License to Farm” Campaign

Social license is the need for, and attempt to, garner and maintain public approval of industry/corporate practices. The License to Farm campaign responds to the public pushback regarding industrial farm practices, and claims to educate the public on Canadian farming. in I analyze the campaign to reveal the discursive reproduction of power in the campaign materials. I seek to answer: How are representations of expertise employed to legitimize industrial farming as the dominant agricultural practice? The project relies on the science and technology studies framework and draws on critiques of industrial farming. I employ a mixed methodology including critical discourse analysis and Actor Network Theory. The project uncovers how the License to Farm campaign is less about educating the public and more of a public relations tactic (an iteration of the social license approach) used to negatively portray the critical consumer, and positively the proponents of industrial farming.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Beaulieu, Megan

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2018 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2018-13203

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/39041