Whose “Power of Action”? an in-Depth Hermeneutical Perspective on Gendered Dimensions of Measures Against Climate Change

The impact of climate change is distributed unequally regarding gender and other intersectionally intertwined power structures. In this paper though, I address the gendered dimension of measures against climate change. I am specifically interested in how gender shapes the perception of technologies that are supposed to reduce emissions. I thereby focus on the relevance of gender on a symbolic and psycho social level. Therefore, I want to present results from a psychoanalytic social psychological research project on climate change. Key to my presentation are the results of an analysis of a promotional video by BMW called “The Power of Action”. Interestingly, the video promotes an electric vehicle and includes references to activism against climate change, gender and (hetero)sexuality as well as to dynamics between different generations. I have analyzed this video using the in-depth hermeneutical method. In-depth hermeneutics is a psychoanalytic method in qualitative social research that uses the researchers' feelings and group dynamics to understand unconscious or latent meanings (e.g. Rothe/Krüger/Rosengart, 2022). Therefore, I will not only speak about the manifest level of meaning but also carve out the unconscious or latent meanings that are inscribed in the video.

References

Rothe, K., Krüger, S., & Rosengart, D. (Ed.). (2022). Cultural Analysis Now! Alfred Lorenzer and the In-Depth Hermeneutics of Culture and Society. UIT.