Dramaturgy and crisis management: A third act

Abstract

Dramaturgical perspectives have been used successfully in the past by crisis management researchers. However, previous contributions have been limited because they have been actor-centered, which has meant that they have tended to ignore the critical role that an audience can play in the drama of a crisis. This article therefore presents a "third act" in which dramaturgical perspectives are used to deliver an actor-and-audience centered analysis of crisis management. This third act is built around the dramaturgical concept of "characterization," which we introduce to assess how an audience receives the symbolic outputs and discourses that are produced by crisis actors. After this theorizing, we present an analytical model, which will allow future researchers to analyze the interplay between actor, audience, and legitimacy when examining crisis. We conclude by illustrating the model's analytical capacity via an examination of the role of leaders and experts during the COVID-19 pandemic. | INTRODUCTIONThis article develops a specific dramaturgical lens, which we argue can play an important role in the analysis of crisis management. Two significant contributions to the crisis management literature have already shown how dramaturgical perspectives can enhance the analysis of crisis management. We call these two previous interventions "acts" in keeping with our focus on drama. Act one was presented by Paul 't Hart who established how crisis leaders often performed in "a dramaturgy of coping" (Edelman 1977, p. 49) that could influence crisis management policy via the production of "symbolic outputs" (t Hart, 1993). Act two was presented in the work of Maarten Hajer who extended that initial foundation by developing a "performative perspective" that showed, both theoretically and empirically, how crisis actors "perform authority" through discourse that is both staged and scripted (Hajer, 2009;Hajer & Uitermark, 2008). Act one therefore alerted us to the need to view crisis management actions through the lens of symbolic politics, and act two provided a dramaturgical toolkit to explore the nature of crisis discourse.

The contemporary UK prime minister. When the personal becomes political: Agency, character, personality and celebrity

“…However, each individual brings different attributes to the post, their influence and impact on the office itself vary and the decisions taken may alter from one to the next. Ever more so, the degree to which prime ministerial behaviour aligns with a prototypical characterisation influences the extent to which it can draw symbolic capital from an audience (Atkins and Gaffney, 2020;Ball et al, 2021). For Theresa May, characterisation was determinantal to building this symbolic capital.…”

“…For Boris Johnson, the performative aspect was critical to his party leadership in 2019 and continued in office. However, as Ball et al (2021) note: 'The traits [for Johnson] that connect the public and the private, however, are an eagerness to please audiences, an unwillingness to confront bad news, an excessive optimism and an eschewing of detail and rigor in working practices'. The difficulty for Johnson, exposed by the Covid crisis, was that as leading actor, when the crisis hit, he was not aligned with his audience.…”

“…Ever more so, the degree to which prime ministerial behaviour aligns with a prototypical characterisation influences the extent to which it can draw symbolic capital from an audience (Atkins and Gaffney, 2020; Ball et al . , 2021).…”

The Trump Administration and the COVID‐19 crisis: Exploring the warning‐response problems and missed opportunities of a public health emergency

“…Watching President Trump's response to the unfolding COVID‐19 pandemic was to observe a leader acting and communicating in a fashion congruent with psychological denial and wishful thinking (Ball et al, 2021 ). For months, the president continually attempted to reassure the public—and the stock market—via his statements at public appearances and tweets that the problem was “under control,” that it would soon go away, and that vaccines were just around the corner and could be pushed out to a receptive public at WARP speed—despite clear indications and expert assessments to the contrary.…”

COVID-19 and the second exams fiasco across the UK: four nations trying to avoid immediate policy failure

“…In Westminster systems, they may seek pragmatic ways to respond to dynamics out of their control, but are expected to be in charge and accountable for government policy (Cairney 2020a). They act strategically to make and narrate choices, but face competition from their critics, and do not control the reaction of their audiences (Ball et al 2021;Cairney 2020b, pp. 66-68;Boin et al 2020).…”