Psychological Mechanisms of Public Opinion Bashing Civil Engineering

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K15117
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 22050:Civil engineering plan and transportation engineering-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University (2021-2022); Tokyo University of Science (2019-2020)
• Principal Investigator: Tanaka Kosuke 京都大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (30793963)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: public opinion / consensus building / newspaper / SNS / international comparison

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A study was conducted on the bashing attitude toward civil engineering, which has been regarded as a problem in the past. By analyzing the relationship with perceptions of social conditions, an association between bashing attitudes and economic insecurity was demonstrated. The analysis of SNS data also revealed the strength of bashing awareness in Japan. In addition, I analyzed differences in attitudes by age group, and found that bashing attitudes toward public works projects are characteristic of those in their 40s and older, and that newspaper coverage of public works projects has also declined significantly since the 2010s, indicating a change in public opinion.

Free Research Field

土木計画

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

2000年代以降にメディア報道で頻繁に取り上げられ，政治の中心的な課題となることもあった公共事業について，人々の意識を様々な側面から明らかにした．経済的な不安がバッシング意識と関連していること，他国と比べても公共事業に否定的な意識が強いこと，40歳以上で公共事業に対して否定的態度が強い一方で，40歳未満では否定的な態度が見られないこと，2010年代になって公共事業に対する報道が低調なことが明らかとなった．こうして世論状況を客観的に明らかにしたことは，公共事業を巡る理性的な議論の促進に資するものと期待される．