Abstract
This study applies a structurational-material lens to a case study of the deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota to help explain why and how area small business owners became forgotten stakeholders in the wake of the collapse. By considering the relationship between materiality and structuration theory, this approach uncovers the influence that materiality has on the rules and resources stakeholders, as agents, draw upon in the aftermath of a crisis and helps explain why a key group of stakeholders were ignored by those who had the power to help them weather the crisis. Specifically, the objects, sites, and bodies of the crisis functioned to restrain the small business owners from acting in ways that could have drawn more attention to their own plight. Findings help critique and extend Giddens' dialectic of control while highlighting a need for a third type of resource, alternative resources, to account for times when existing power structures constrain one's ideal mode of action. An approach combining materiality with structuration theory is appropriate to develop more complex and transferable understandings and strategies to crisis communication.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
47
Issue
2
First Page
197
Last Page
222
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Arendt, Colleen
(2015)
"A Tale of Two Crises: A Structurational-Material Analysis of Forgotten Stakeholders,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 47:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol47/iss2/6
Copyright
©2015 Iowa Communication Association
