State, community, individual - Societal and Political Psychology ...

cilities; as well as numerous demonstrations
and cultural events organized in Basilicata and
in Rome. Finally, the government amended
the Decree-Law erasing the name of Scanzano
(see Appendix for a chronology; see also Scuderi,
2003).
Previous analyses of Scanzano’s case concluded
that a mix of not-in-my-backyard syndrome,
scientifi c evidence, and wrong communication
strategies contributed to the escalation
of the protest (Bortoletti, 2004; Greco, 2003).
Interviews with people from Scanzano showed
that citizens stressed place attachment, group
identity, and economics as the key issues at
stake, and that a sense of humiliation fuelled
the rage against the government (Abruzzese,
2004). Anthropologically oriented recollection
of the events also suggested that the Days of
Scanzano contributed to the articulation of a
positive Southern identity rooted in history and
in recent intellectual discourses (Zinn, 2007).
These included the founding myth of the
struggles for the land, the representation of the
area as a sort of ecologic sanctuary, referrals
to Magna Graecia, and the “invocation of the
brigand [as] a reference to the struggle for social
justice [and] resistance against the central
government” (Zinn 2007, p. 199).
Materials
The current research complements those presented
in the background section -which were
based on recollections of events, questionnaires,
interviews and anthropological analyses-
and examined spontaneously produced
archive data.
Text messages (posts) sent to www.basilicata.net
from November 2003 to February
2004 and devoted the events in Scanzano
were analysed. Participants were individuals
or group members. A total of 1637 comments
were posted from November, 14 2003 to February,
06 2004 by 227 authors with different
nicknames. The great majority of posts concentrated
in November and December 2003.
Procedure
The textual corpus was submitted to qualitative
content analysis (supported by QSR Nud.
ist). The analysis was rooted in constructivist
Grounded Theory principles (Charmaz, 2005).
During the coding procedure, in adjunct to
the fi ve features of intractable confl ict models
Societal and Political Psychology International Review
volume 2 ● number 2 ● 2011 ● pp. 115-127
presented above, we took into account the discourses
about nature and rurality (MacNaghten,
1993; Woods, 2003), classic taxonomies
of confl ict (Deutsch, 1973) and ontological
metaphors through which identity features are
defi ned and reifi ed (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).
After reading all the posts a fi rst label system
was constructed as open and related to data
as possible, then the coded categories were reorganized
into few main frames. Finally, the
percentage of messages dealing with each
frames on each day (e.g. messages dealing with
Nature on 1 st day/ total messages of 1 st day *
100) was computed to explore which information
was considered more relevant day by day
(amplifi cation) and how the organization of the
issues varied (articulation) during the confl ict.
Results
The fi rst element observed is the structure of
posts and replies. The great majority of participants
took part only a few times to the forum
and a real debate rarely emerges. All the issues
appear on the very fi rst day. After a couple of
days few themes remain relevant.
The participants that intervene in the discussion
refer to a number of Places, People,
and Organizations and contribute to crate a
very precise and complex interpretation of the
confl ict. Places are described in great detail
showing high competences and the desire to
share and re-elaborate information in the online
arena. Debated Issues included the use of the
land, the characteristic of local farming as well
as the technicalities connected with nuclear
waste disposal. Principles of Justice, Loyalty,
and Trust are also used in the forum to identify
causal explanation of political choices. Finally,
the Confl ict is described using almost all of the
categories identifi ed by Deutsch’s (1973): material
resources, group survival, values, power
relations, and beliefs.
Results of the open coding led to a particularly
dispersed structure, each category including
from 18 to 30 subcategories. Subsequently,
categories were reorganized and few areas that
appeared more meaningful were further investigated:
Nature and Nuclear (e.g. risk perception,
description of territory and nature); Confl
ict frames (e.g. the confl ict and its outcome,
the issues at stake), Power Relationships (e.g.
perceived history of oppression, legitimacy
and trust issues); Identity and characterization
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