Frameworks (part 3 - Social Drama)

The next framework we’ll look at is the ‘Social Drama’ framework by Victor Turner.

I came across this framework in the same Gross paper as the framework discussed in the last post:

Alan G. Gross. Scientific and technical controversy: three frameworks for analysis.  Argumentation and Advocacy 42.1 (Summer 2005): p43(5).

                                                                                        

In short, Turner states that a social drama occurs when something happens to upset normal social routines. A very simple example of this would be if every single Friday you go to a certain pizza shop for dinner, but this Friday you go and the shop is closed. Another example could be that instead of the paper boy delivering the paper to your letterbox everyday on his bicycle, he is riding a hovercraft.

If we translate this into the GM controversy, the normal social routine is for new plant varieties to be made by traditional breeding methods. But now we are upsetting the normal social routine by making new plant varieties by genetic engineering.

Turner goes as far as to providing steps which social dramas follow. There are four steps – breach, crisis, redress action, and reintegration.

Step 1 – Breach - a gesture deliberately defiant of social routines.

In the case of GM, I think there were a couple of breaches. One would definitely be the introduction and application of the technology. Another could be the introduction of GM food into the marketplace.

Step 2 - Crisis – the cleavage of relevant social relations to which opposing parties belong.

Here, it is quite easy to see what sits either side of this cleavage – those for GM, and those against GM. They each have their reasons for belonging to their side, and believe their side to be ‘right’ and the other side to be ‘wrong’.

Step 3 – Redressive action – society adjudicates rival claims in arenas such as legislatures, regulative bodies, and judiciaries. (Adjudicate = to put on trial/hear case).

One could argue that we are at this stage now. Both opposing parties are fighting to get their side heard by government and other bodies of power. Both sides are pushing for legislation, regulation etc to suit their desires.

Step 4 - Reintegrate – attempt to reintegrate opposing forces into new status quo.

One could also argue that we are at this stage; scientists are trying to reintegrate everyone into the new status quo of accepting GM as a necessary new way of life, but some of the wider public are resistant of this, hence the controversy.

As we can see, the GM controversy fits quite well into this framework. Once step four has been fully implemented and accepted, I believe the controversy will be pretty much finished. Of course there will still be advocacy groups against it, and things will come up every now and then that will cause minor controversies, but I think the big controversy of GM overall will end. When this happens, we will witness a bit of a paradigm shift, which I will discuss in the next post.