In the last decade, the natural gas industry has grown rapidly, and North Texas has become a major shale gas-producing area. This paper studies the power struggle of two rival groups (Frack Free Denton and Denton Tax Payers for a Strong Economy) over fracking in Denton. How did each of these groups challenge the claims-making activities and goals of their adversaries?” We conducted data from ten in-depth interviews from each side to compare concerns about fracking. This study focuses on the campaign of the two groups on each side of the debate. We developed the model of merging the theoretical frameworks of value-conflict and social construction of social problems by examining the stages of awareness, policy determination, and reform in the battle over fracking. This project finds that the new theoretical framework model is germane to many features of claims,” “claims-makers,” and “claims-making activities.
Keywords
Fracking, Grounded Theory, Policy Determination, Social Construction Theory, Stages of Awareness, The Art of Fracktivism
Author Bio(s)
Dr. Mehmet Soyer is Assistant Professor in Sociology at the Utah State University. He received his M.A. in sociology in 2010 at University of North Texas. Dr. Soyer completed his doctorate in sociology from the Texas Woman’s University in 2015. His major areas of interest are in the subjects of environmental sociology, social stratification, race and ethnicity, and media studies. He has authored a book titled Founding Father of Sociology: Ibn-i Khaldun and solo authored and co-authored articles in peer-reviewed journals. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: mehmet.soyer@usu.edu.
Dr. Sebahattin Ziyanak is Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Dr. Ziyanak holds a PhD in sociology from the University of North Texas in 2013. He received his M.A. in sociology in 2007 from the University of Houston, Texas and his B.S. in sociology in 1999 from the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, Turkey. He is the recipient of the La Mancha Society Golden Windmill Research Award in 2018. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Excellence in Teaching with the National Society of Leadership and Success in 2018. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Odessa Links for Odessa Homeless Coalition. He is the President of Peace Academy of West Texas. His fields of research are in the subjects of delinquency, deviance, social organization, social movement, sociology of education, and race and ethnicity. He is also the author of the following books: (Co-editor with Bilal Sert) Turkish Immigrants in the Mainstream of American Life: Theories of International Migration, (Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham, MD); Analyzing Delinquency among Kurdish Adolescents: A Test of Hirschi’s Social Bonding Theory (Lexington Books: Lanham, MD) and Crossroad: A Grassroots Organization for the Homeless in Houston (VDM Publishing: Saarbrücken, Germany). He is the author of various articles in International Journal of Human Sciences, European Review of Applied Sociology, The International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, National Forum of Multicultural Issues Journal, The Journal of Academic Social Science, Applied Educational Research Journal, and The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: ziyanak_s@utpb.edu.
Soyer, M.,
&
Ziyanak, S.
(2018).
The Battle over Fracking: The Mobilization of Local Residents.
The Qualitative Report,
23(9), 2222-2237.
https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3248
