To Frack or Not to Frack? The Interaction of Justification and Power in a Sustainability Controversy
Jean-Pascal Gond, Luciano Barin Cruz, Emmanuel Raufflet, Mathieu Charron
Journal of Management Studies · 2016 · Volume 53 · Issue 3
Abstract
How could ade factomoratorium on shale gas exploration emerge in Québec despite the broad adoption of fracking in North American jurisdictions, support from the provincial government and a favourable power position initially enjoyed by the oil and gas industry? This paper analyses this turn of events by studying how stakeholders from government, civil society, and industry mobilized modes of justification and forms of power with the aim to influence the moral legitimacy of the fracking technology during a controversy surrounding shale gas exploration. Combining Boltanski and Thévenot's economies of worth theory with Lukes’ concept of power, we analytically induced thejustification of powermechanisms whereby uses of power become justified or ‘escape’ justification, and thepower of justificationmechanisms by which justifications alter subsequent power dynamics. We finally explain how these mechanisms contribute to explaining the controversy's ultimate outcome, and advance current debates on political corporate social responsibility.
Keywords
corporate social responsibility, fracking, justification, moral legitimacy, power, shale gas
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