UMI/ProQuest URL	http://80-wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/9830387
PUBLICATION NUMBER	AAT 9830387
TITLE	Public anger: Its origins and evolution in environmental (water quality) issues and policy
AUTHOR	Bonner, Linda Hanifin
DEGREE	PhD
SCHOOL	FIELDING GRADUATE INSTITUTE
DATE	1997
PAGES	175
ADVISER	Seashore, Charles
ISBN	0-591-83201-1
SOURCE	DAI-B 59/04, p. 1911, Oct 1998
SUBJECT	PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL (0451); PSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIORAL (0384); POLITICAL SCIENCE, GENERAL (0615); ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (0768)
ABSTRACT	This research provides a definition of the theory of public anger and descriptive models of the conditions and properties associated with its origins and evolution. Applying a defined meaning to a phenomenon, it identifies specific intervening conditions that occur within sociotechnical organizations. It is these conditions, which provoked the emotions and behavior of the public about proposed technical projects associated with water quality policies. As a result of this research, the causal conditions and context which stimulate anger-based behaviors, are identified. Subsequently, the conclusions point to the need for future studies on the consequences of the public's anger, particularly in relation to the development of future policies to protect water quality. The theory of Public Anger is defined as the evolution of overt collective behavior of individuals from the varying levels of three emotions--anxiety, fear, and frustration. These emotions occur within individuals and groups who are confronted or provided by a condition affecting the public's self-esteem, that is, of blocked goals, deprived rights, or perceptions of violated values and unjustified actions. The most significant cause found to provide the public's anger are the intervening conditions which inhibit an open communication process between sociotechnical organizations and the public. These factors include the properties of trust, control, and leadership. The results of these situations guarantee that incidents of vast differences, confrontation, disagreement, and struggles for power and control will materialize prior to, during, and following the implementation of new policies. However, the increased energy level associated with public anger is often found to serve a vital and necessary purpose of raising critical and frequently ignored issues. Having a model with which to effectively address the public's concerns is necessary to changing the communication paradigm between policy institutions, sociotechnical institutions, and the public. It affords organization and community leaders, policy officials, and technical managers an opportunity of a new approach that will contribute to a more constructive forum within which the differences over policy conflicts and society's dilemmas are effectively resolved.