Collective action frame and cultural context: A study of the anti-express-rail-link movement in Hong Kong

Abstract

Existing framing analysis has centered on the internal dynamics of framing, focusing on the relationship between collective action frames and the ‘interpretative schema’ of individual participants. The external relationship of framing to the broader cultural context has largely been neglected. How does the cultural context influence the forming and transforming of collective action frames? This study addresses this question by analyzing the framing process of the anti-express-rail-link movement in Hong Kong. Its findings indicate that the cultural context affects the efficiency of collective action frames. On the one hand, collective action frames that align with mainstream values of the cultural context may mobilize more participants than those associated with marginal values. On the other hand, marginal cultural values that participants managed to bring forward into public discourse via the actions of a movement may, in turn, further transform the existing cultural context. Thus, while cultural context affects the formation of a collective action frame, the latter also plays a constructive role for the former.