ABSTRACT
This chapter compares public perceptions of unconventional gas development (UGD) across three nations: Australia, Canada, and the United States. Perceptions are examined through the lens of social representations theory and social licence to operate, with social identity offered as a key anchor for emergent social representations that constrain the extent to which a licence to operate exists within a community. The chapter demonstrates that locations in which UGD extraction occurred before communal discourse proliferated have notably different social representations from communities where extensive debate occurred prior to development. It reveals a strong tendency for communities with early development to accept UGD to some degree, while communities where development did not take hold early on experienced serious discourse on the topic, and challenges to industry social licence grew. The amount of discourse prior to heavy development emerges as a key factor related to community appraisals of social licence. The chapter identifies communities supporting and communities opposing UGD in each nation; social identity and timing of discourse about development seem more important for support/opposition than national-level factors. The international comparison suggests that emerging social representations and evaluations of social licence may be more common across nations than within nations.
