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Abstract
The paradigm case of political communication in late 20th Century democracies is the mediated public sphere suggested by Jurgen Habermas. However, a less obvious discursive space opens when decisions made at higher levels of government are forced upon an unwilling community. The resulting controversy creates an ad hoc public sphere, i.e., public meetings at which a single divisive issue is argued. This study investigated an exemplar case of public discourse at the community level in Boyd County, Nebraska, where a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility was proposed in 1989. The purpose was to describe communication and to determine explanatory utility of extant communication theories in the context of an ad hoc public sphere.
Textual analysis of utterances by ordinary citizens in extended personal interviews and transcripts of public meetings found that principal arguments fell into three broad categories: demonization of supporters and officials, victimization and valorization of opponents, and dichotomization of views regarding science and technology. Images of nuclear holocaust suggested in many historical, psychological and sociological studies constituted only a small part of the discourse.
Discursive characteristics identified in the analysis are best explained by Symbolic Convergence Theory. Argument fragments found in public meetings are analogous to Bormann's "cryptic allusions to symbolic common ground." Hidden political motives and conspiracy can be explained as interpreting events in terms of human action. Strong group self-images are produced as opponent and proponent rhetorical communities seek to distinguish insiders from outsiders. Dichotomization of views on science and technology can be understood as mirror image rhetorical visions.
Complexity and richness of discourse found in this exemplar case of an ad hoc public sphere suggest that further study by political communication scholars is needed. Bormann's Fantasy Theme Analysis is proposed as the most appropriate analytical method for future research.
