A feel for the frame: towards a Bourdieusian frame analysis

Abstract

This paper proposes a theoretical bridge between frame analysis and the Bourdieusian tradition of field analysis via the concept of linguistic habitus. Framing practices have tended to be explained, microcosmically, in terms of individual psychology or interaction, or macrocosmically, in terms of geopolitics, ideology and hegemony. This paper locates the genesis of framing practice at the mezzo level of the field. In this paper, I develop a Bourdieusian frame analysis through an integration of field and framing theories. Reflecting on my own research regarding news access in solutions journalism, I argue that framing practices are generated by habituation in specific linguistic markets. I argue that a linguistic habitus generates four interrelated framing practices: censorship, euphemism, style and schema. Lastly, I propose a taxonomy of framing practices by mapping the relative tension and ease of linguistic markets against the autonomy or heteronomy of the field.