Antiracism and Social Movements in Norway: The Importance of Critical Events

Abstract

How can a single event become critical, potentially challenge a dominant discourse and lead to institutional change? In this article we use two recent events in Norway to answer this question. In the first a dark-skinned person was killed by the police; in the second, an ambulance crew refused to take an injured man to hospital for emergency treatment. The term ‘critical event’ means that certain events can become critical if, through framing, they facilitate a collective consciousness articulated in ways that challenge existing frames of interpretation. In this article we discuss this perspective in relation to the two incidents, and show its analytical value for studying collective action and the possibility of social change.