Shaping the public in Southeast Europe : social field analysis fuzzy set method

english

2025

volume 62, issue 2

Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za družbene vede
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Communication is key to social interaction and people’s socialisation. The interaction between people and institutions is based on strategic communication as a vital component for the survival of society. This strategic communication is used by agent-communicators on behalf of formal organisations, and intended for their target public. Moreover, every strategic communication is affected by invisible social forces (institutions, networks, cognitive frames), which ‘manage’ the process of communication with the public. We use the SOFIA approach to provide an analytical model of influence of the social forces during the shaping of the public. The aim is to combine theoretical and practical approaches of Communication and Social Field Theory. Further, using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the causal complexity of these relationships is examined, taking account of the necessary and sufficient conditions for particular outcomes to occur. Institutions and networks are necessary conditions, yet neither meets the criteria for sufficiency. However, the absence of these conditions does not necessarily indicate the absence of communication. Exploring the combinations of necessary conditions for communication reveals complexities such as the interaction between institutions, networks and cognitive frames. The absence of certain social forces, together with the presence of other forces, emerges as a relevant condition for communication. Accordingly, the fact that institutions in the social field exist is not all that is important, but also that they communicate and create networks of interactions for the public’s better understanding. The strategic communication framework, navigated by the invisible social forces, actually improves the ability to shape the public in the desired direction.

06.08.2025