The environment in Petrobras magazine (1961-1979): Meaning mobilized by corporate discourse.
| Autor | Oliveira, Lidia |
1 Introduction
Language and its use in discourse are not neutral. Discourse, as a particular form of talking about and understanding the world, or part(s) of it, creates the social reality through the production of concepts, objects, and subject positions, shaping the way we understand and react to the world (Hardy et al., 2000). Thus, language and its use in the discourse of organizations communicated in corporate reports are strategic and ideological, "creating particular ways of seeing things" (Makela, 2013, p. 366).
In the area of the accounting literature, the concept of ideology has been explored with special emphasis on studying the environmental/sustainability report (see Chelli et al., 2019; Journeault et al., 2021; Makela, 2013; Milne et al., 2009; Situ et al., 2021). This literature has shown that corporate reports (Letter from the CEO, annual reports, sustainability reports) can be used to reinforce specific views of the world, participating in the processes by which societies come to frame and understand certain phenomena, communicating an instrumentalized discourse to serve a specific ideological influence (Makela & Laine, 2011; Spence, 2007). Even accounting books and manuals, texts which are often considered apolitical or merely technical, can present ideological characteristics, often subtly, with implications for the educational process (Ferguson et al., 2009). Ideology acts in hegemonizing certain understandings of reality, silencing others (Eagleton, 1997).
Based on Thompson's (2011) conception of ideology, this study explores, in specific socio-historical circumstances, how the meaning mobilized by symbolic forms serves to establish and sustain relations of domination. Specifically, the research aims to analyze the use of the general modes (and related strategies) proposed by Thompson (2011) through which ideology can operate in the organizational discourse (linguistic and quasi-linguistic) resulting from the environmental effects caused by Petrobras' operational activity. Based on the methodological reference of depth hermeneutics (Thompson, 2011), a qualitative and documental study is developed, and a critical analysis is conducted of the narratives and visual images of the material published in Petrobras magazine about the environment (or that allude to the theme), during the period in which it was in circulation (1961-1979). This magazine not only reflected the organizational culture and values, but it also had a broader cultural and political meaning. Similarly to Chelli et al. (2019), the research focuses on the link between the ideological constructions explored in this discourse and the media context in which it occurs, specifically the written press.
The study contributes to the literature that explores corporate discourse within the ideological perspective (see Chelli et al., 2019; Journeault et al., 2021; Makela, 2013; Situ et al., 2021), embedded in a particular socio-historical context (Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s), in which the relations of domination are evident. The research also responds to the appeal for studies about the use of symbolic forms by organizations to represent themselves, as well as their activities in the "discursive and ideological dispute underway regarding the environment and development" (Milne et al., 2009, p. 1220). The research extends the analysis to underexplored symbolic forms in the literature, in this case Petrobras magazine, assumed by the company as an instrument of accountability, and it addresses the scarcity of studies that analyze, beyond texts, visual images (see Milne et al., 2009). The investigation also contributes to understanding the evolution of the meaning of the effects of the organizational activities on the environment, through the corporate and press discourse and the symbolic construction strategies used by a company to establish and sustain its power.
The article is organized as follows. The second section presents the theoretical framework, highlighting the conceptualization of ideology, modes, and strategies with which it operates proposed by Thompson (2011). The third section describes the method. This is followed by an analysis of the socio-historical context. The fifth section analyzes the meaning mobilized by Petrobras' discourse in Petrobras magazine (1961-1979) within the context of accusations by the written press regarding the environmental damage caused by the oil industry and/ or the company. The article finishes with the discussion and conclusions.
2 theoretical framework
According to Thompson (2011), the concept of ideology can be used to allude to the ways meaning is built and conveyed by symbolic forms and serves, in certain circumstances, to establish and sustain structured social relations from which some individuals or groups benefit and have interest in preserving, while others seek to contest them. That is, ideology is related to the mode in which meaning serves to, on one hand, actively create and institute and, on the other, maintain and reproduce relations of domination through a continuous process of production and reception of symbolic forms, in the social contexts in which they are produced, conveyed, and received. Thus, ideology "is meaning at the service of power" (Thompson, 2011, p. 16).
Symbolic forms refer to a "broad spectrum of actions and speech, images and texts, which are reproduced by subjects and recognized by them and others as significant constructs" (Thompson, 2011, p. 16), being partially constitutive of the reality of society. It is through them that individuals or groups express themselves and understand each other. The author highlights linguistic speech and spoken or written expressions, but also nonlinguistic or quasi-linguistic ones, for example an image or construct that combines images and words. Thompson (2011, p. 19) thus presents ideology as "a creative and constitutive characteristic of social life that is sustained and reproduced, contested and transformed, through actions and interactions, which include the continuous exchange of symbolic forms."
The author proposes five general modes through which ideology can operate: legitimization, dissimulation, unification, fragmentation, and reification, which relate to a set of typical strategies of symbolic construction (see Table 1).
3 Method
The research develops a critical analysis through a qualitative study based on Petrobras, making use of the methodological framework of depth hermeneutics developed by Thompson (2011). This covers three phases: a socio-historical analysis, a formal or discursive analysis, and interpretation/reinterpretation, to "explain the connection between the meaning mobilized by the symbolic forms and relations of domination that meaning maintains" (Thompson, 2011, p. 35).
In 1953, after the triumph of the "The oil is ours" campaign, Getulio Vargas, the President of Brazil at the time, sanctioned Law n. 2,004 (Brasil, 1953), which discusses the National Oil Policy and the creation of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.--Petrobras. For roughly forty years, the company has acted exclusively, in the Brazilian territory, in the activities of oil and natural gas exploration and production and of oil refining. The choice of Petrobras was due to the fact that the company is a symbolic cornerstone in the idealization of Brazilianness (Maia, 2005); it focuses on an activity with a direct impact on the environment, exposing it to public scrutiny; and it finds itself in a position of domination, given that it is a state company, operating as a monopoly and having been "always intimately related to the Brazilian political, economic, and social context" (Petrobras, 2013, p. 6).
This is a qualitative and documental study, whose source and symbolic form is Petrobras magazine during the period in which it was in circulation (19611979). The temporal space considered is pertinent. From 1961 to March 31st of 1964, Brazil lived through a politically polarized, economically deteriorated, and socially agitated period. More than two decades of military dictatorship followed, which lasted until March 15th of 1985, leaving deep scars on Brazilian society (see section 4). This magazine resulted from the transformation of the Petrobras bulletin in 1961 and defined, in its first edition, the aim of focusing on
the oil question from all of its angles so as to situate oil in the plenitude of its meaning within the national context (...) Having made the pacific point that there is no longer room for controversy regarding the correctness of the state policy adopted by Brazil, all that remains is for us to provide accountability to the Brazilian people for the mission it has entrusted PETROBRAS with, the essence and symbol of the dearest concerns of the nationality. Oil is sovereign and the sovereign does not alienate himself. (Petrobras, 1961, p. 3)
Petrobras assumes the use of this means of communication as an instrument of accountability. In that period, this magazine, published monthly, reached more than 100 thousand copies. In the middle of the military dictatorship, with a circulation equal to the biggest ones of the period, the magazine was distributed to the employees, to thousands of subscribers from a wide variety of activities, in Brazil and abroad, and used as a means of promotion in schools, in which Petrobras' Public Relations Service (Serpub) held workshops to promote the oil activity (Petrobras, 2013). In 1968, at the beginning of the most repressive phase of the military regime, its content was reformulated, extending to topics such as "theater, music, biology, everyday life, and the horoscope, which made it more popular and interesting for families, teachers, and the public in general" (Petrobras, 2013, p. 26). As a result, Petrobras "constituting an efficient example of the interference of the State's institutional communication in the theory and practice of corporate communication" (Petrobras, 2013, p. 11)...
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