Yes, it is possible! Framing processes and social resonance of Spain’s anti-eviction movement

Abstract

There are few empirical studies on the cultural consequences of social movements. This article contributes to alleviating this problem, examining the cultural outcomes produced by the action of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), one of the most important social movement organizations to appear in Spain in the 2010s. Concretely, through qualitative methods, we analyse the content and form of the PAH’s discourse and the communicative practices developed to disseminate it to the population. Following, we examine this diffusion using quantitative methods. The article shows that PAH activists produced a discourse with a form and content that sought to achieve alignment with the common sense of the majority of the population, that their communicative practices took advantage of the opportunities offered by social and mass media, and, lastly, that the PAH’s diagnosis and proposals resonated among a majority of the population.