Information Amplification In Environment-related Group Incidents And The Interactive Logic Of Social Response

Coming into the 21 st century, China has seen the soaring growth of Group Incidents, especially those related to environment. On the 18 th CPC National Congress, Ecological Civilization has become the top priority of our government work. Both central and local governments are trying very hard to find a proper solution to Environment-related Group Incidents. Solving the Environment-related Group Incidents appropriately is beneficially to our public security and the stability of China’s economy, politics, society and culture.This essay studies Environment-related Group Incidents happened recently and conducts analysis and summarization of those incidents in-depth. Meanwhile, I adopt the Case-based reasoning and deductive induction combined with Risk communication theory、Social action theory、NIMBY Complex theory to make further research on the Information Amplification in Environment-related Group Incidents and the Interactive Logic of Social Response. By analyzing these incidents, I have found four interactive logics which are interaction between information source identification and value choices, interaction between information intensity and emergent regulations, interaction between information amplification and public cognition and interaction between stigmatization and social behavior choices. Moreover, an Interactive Logic Analyzing Frame(ILAF) was built on Information Amplification in Environment-related Group Incidents and the Interactive Logic of Social Response.In this essay, I put the ILAF into application by analyzing three Environment-related Group Incidents happened almost at the same time but in three different cities: Qidong, Shifang and Kunming respectively. Each and every of the three incidents has four phases: boundary activation – identification of risk source; polarization – information and risk amplification; critical point – distrust and stigmatization; and group action – focus events. By studying these phases and the evolving process of risks, I will try to verify the ILAF. In the process of analyzing, I will summarize China’s experience of handling Environment-related Group Incidents and figure out our limitations. Then, to draw an insight from advanced countries’ way of governance and coping with this kind of problems, this essay reconsiders our governing way from modern thinking and governing methods.Finally, I will try to find the most appropriate way to deal with China’s Environment-related Group Incidents. This essay suggests that in order to solve Environment-related Group Incidents properly, we need to do more work on several aspects such as preventing risk from source, expanding the exchange of information of risks, improving the anti-risk capability and rebuilding the foundation of public trust.