The theoretical dialogue between environmental communication and social sciences in the logic of science in action

Abstract

This article examines how the theoretical repertoires of the social sciences are managed by the researchers in environmental communication/journalism and how the theoretical arguments are appropriated in the applied studies. The corpus of analysis comprises 492 scientific communications presented by researchers of the Brazilian Society of Interdisciplinary Communication Studies (Intercom) in the period of 2001-2016, in addition to 36 interviews. The conclusions highlight: the historical contribution of the social sciences to the formation of the academic field of communication; the epistemic proximity between the social sciences and communication/journalism; the valorization of the use of this repertoire by environmental communication/journalism researchers. The interviews reinforce the interdisciplinary nature of environmental communication, the epistemic and methodological proximity to the social sciences, the plurality of actors involved and the consolidation of an already established way of doing research by Intercom scholars in its 40 years of operation.