Social Movement Framing Research Articles

‘We will continue to fight for our lands … it is Mother Nature that we value’: Idle No More, the Rights of Nature social movement frame, and Anti-Capitalist Ecologist Discourse

ABSTRACT Organizing to oppose an omnibus budget bill threatening First Nations in Canada, the Idle No More (INM) movement is embedded in a legacy of Indigenous resistance to colonialism and environmental degradation. INM activists challenged Western nature perceptions to advocate for the protection of nature through the lens of First and Indigenous Peoples’ traditions and cultures. We build upon existing Indigenous Environmental Justice movement, framing, and Rights of Nature (RoN) literature to understand the role of the RoN social movement frame and Anti-Capitalist Ecologist Discourse as orienting frameworks for INM movement mobilization. We explore the emergence period of INM, analysing the first 6 months of posts and comments on the movement’s Facebook page. We argue that INM activists employed an RoN frame to establish central claims and appeal to a range of potential supporters connecting the local and the global through broad Anti-Capitalist Ecologist Discourse narratives.

Framing social movements: A geographical perspective

AbstractThe geographical concepts of scale, space and place have informed and refined the theory of “framing” in the social movement literature. Going beyond the conventional approach of understanding social movements, this article aims to bring discussions on relational ontology into conversation with the geographical literature on scale and spatial strategies in social movements, proposing a theoretical framework that goes beyond established approaches in the literature on collective action framing. This article proposes for a holistic cross‐disciplinary dialog among political and development geographers and with activists and scholars from other cognate disciplines of social science to understand the complexities of framing in social movements.

한국 최저임금 담론정치에 관한 비판적 분석

This study examines the social movement's framing strategy and the changing discourse of the institution through the case of the minimum wage movement. The discourse politics of the minimum wage began in earnest in the 2000s and has continuously changed. Social movement organizations, especially the newly emerging labor movements have been actively producing new framings related to the minimum wage. Through the framing of ‘the minimum wage is the youth wage,’ the Youth Union has made the minimum wage a important social agenda connecting the issue with the precariousness of youth generation. The Part-time Workers’ Union’s ‘minimum wage into 10,000 won’ restructured the existing minimum wage discourse through a progressive framing, stimulating the formation of public opinion necessary for a sharp increase. However, the minimum wage movement failed to respond to the rapidly growing number of people opposing the increases. As a result, the impetus for raising the minimum wage was lost. Through the analysis, it was confirmed that the frames dispute with each other and are ultimately adopted among social movement sector. Institutional discourse acts as an environment that constrains social movements when they construct framing strategies, but social movements can change existing discourse even within these constraints.

Examining #StopAsianHate discourse on Twitter using framing and thematic analyses: Focusing on motivational framing with express behaviour upon the 2021 Atlanta shootings

AbstractIn separate events on March 16, 2021, an armed man walked into a spa and a massage parlour in Atlanta and shot eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descendant. Within the first week of the Atlanta shootings, more than 400,000 tweets with the hashtag #StopAsianHate emerged in response to the violence. To highlight the importance of this issue, this current study analyses 5,146 English tweets with #StopAsianHate using social movement framing. Analysis of tweets using Thematic analysis shows that proponents of the AAPI community used diagnostic framing to situate the incident in the context of systematic racial discrimination against AAPI, used prognostic framing to suggest “what” to do to resolve the problem, and used motivational framing to share action words to encourage others and to encouraging political engagements. Findings also show that other than the social movement framing, actors expressed many emotions to show their support and gave immediate reactions in response to significant events as they occurred in relation to the hate crimes. Future studies should examine whether these findings are unique to AAPI members, online social movements, or the topic of racial hate crime.

Demanding Disaster Justice: Social Movement Framing and Mobilization after Super Typhoon Yolanda

Demanding Disaster Justice: Social Movement Framing and Mobilization after Super Typhoon Yolanda

The Role of Materials in Issue Framing in Social Movements: A Case Study of Women’s Movement

The Role of Materials in Issue Framing in Social Movements: A Case Study of Women’s Movement

Comparing the #StopTheSteal Movement across Multiple Platforms: Differentiating Discourse on Facebook, Twitter, and Parler

Given that political groups are dispersed across platforms, resulting in different discourses, there is a need for more studies comparing communication across platforms. In this study, we compared posts about #StopTheSteal from three social media platforms after the 2020 US Presidential election and preceding the January 6 Capitol Riot. To do so, we utilized Snow and Benford’s typology of social movement frames—diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames—in the context of far-right movements and an additional frame device: violence cues. This study focused on the following three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Parler. We built three corpora of social media data: 26,093 Facebook posts, 248,643 tweets, and 400,600 Parler posts. Using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) classifiers, dictionary methods, and qualitative text analysis, we find that the use of these frames varies by platform, with users on the alt-tech platform Parler using violence cues such as “smash” and “combat,” suggesting a greater call to action relative to the mainstream platforms.

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement: An Analysis of Twitter Usage During a Protest Movement

This study aims to examine how the ethnic-based Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) uses collective action frames on Twitter to define problems, assign blame, convey a plan of action, and inspire participation. Social movement framing theory was the guiding theory of the study. The study employed quantitative content analysis. The analysis of tweets revealed that Pashtun Tahafuz Movement was clear about the issues of the Pashtun community and who was responsible for those issues. However, they have few solutions and remedies to offer that could mitigate those problems. As for motivational framing, the study found Twitter to be a campaigning and information-sharing platform for PTM’s public demonstrations. This study contributes to the social movement literature by highlighting how social media, specifically Twitter, can empower and improve the visibility of the previously excluded community disregarded by the established institutes i.e., legacy media and social institutions.

Where does the true value of a frame analysis approach lie? A Reply to van Dijk

This paper addresses arguments raised by van Dijk in his critical appraisal of framing approaches to social movement research. In particular, the claim that frame analysis does not give sufficient attention to the intricate details of the interpretive process. In making this argument, van Dijk leans heavily on Goffman’s first category of frames (as individual acts of interpretation) at the expense of his second (relating more to inter-subjectively shared classes of schemata) used reflexively, for instance, by movements to embed a message of protest in wider value systems in the hope that it resonates sufficiently with the grounded experiences, grievances, beliefs, and cultural orientations of publics. This paper highlights how social movement frame research accounts for both categories of frames to illustrate how movements communicate across multiple levels of social interaction to maximize the societal impact of their message. When interpreted in these broader terms, the ‘how’ of interpretation, it will argue, is explained effectively by this research, contrary to van Dijk’s claim.

An imperious, closed sandbox? A rejoinder to Van Dijk’s critique of the framing perspective on social movement mobilization

In this article, we provide a response to Teun van Dijk’s criticism of the framing perspective on social movements, as expressed in his article ‘Analyzing Frame Analysis. A Critical Review of Framing Studies in Social Movement Research’. We argue that a more constructive tone is warranted and explain how his criticism is largely based on a selective reading and misinterpretation of the vast literature on framing and social movements. We provide a more detailed explanation of how discourse and related concepts such as schema and ideology are discussed by social movement scholars and critically reflect on his claim that framing as a concept can rather be replaced by discourse and/or various other cognitive/psychological constructs. Finally, we suggest how a discourse perspective and insights from social movement framing can be complementary in increasing our understanding of how movements (and other actors) communicate and with what consequences.

The Epistemological Asymmetry of Framing “Woman” via US Women's Rights Pioneers

AbstractNineteenth-century US social activist contemporaries Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth are memorialized as women's rights pioneers. White activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony cemented a generational canon. Black activist Sojourner Truth anticipated the eventual crystallization of intersectionality. These figures’ historical proximity underscores the high epistemological and political stakes of claiming gendered categories, namely via “woman” as a mark of aggrievement. I link concepts of intersectionality, epistemic agency, epistemic resources, and social movement framing to examine how “woman” is asymmetrically categorized. To this end, I perform a textual analysis of memorialized documents: “Declaration of Sentiments” (1848) by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States” (1876) by Susan B. Anthony, and “Ain't I a Woman?” (1851) by Sojourner Truth. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony frame “woman” as a single-axis and vertical category, ultimately deferring to the seeming preeminence of the US nation-state. By contrast, Sojourner Truth frames “woman” as a multi-axis and horizontal category by synthesizing her feminist consciousness, lived experience of enslavement, and personal religiosity. This article revisits key memorialized events by utilizing a conceptual toolkit that interlaces feminist and social epistemology with social movement theory.

A War of Words Over Abortion: The Legal-Framing Contest Over the Undue Burden Standard

Movement lawyering often results in litigation battles. Litigant lawyers in Supreme Court abortion cases, who are typically affiliated with, if not members of the reproductive-rights and antiabortion movements, for many years have engaged in a war of words as they dispute abortion laws and what constitutes an undue burden on abortion access. I use and build on social movement framing theory to examine the legal-framing contest unfolding across the undue-burden abortion cases, toward discerning the anatomy and causal sequence of this discursive legal battle. Using both qualitative and quantitative-computerized text analysis, I show that a broad discursive-opportunity structure shapes the legal-framing contest, and the contest itself is structured by framing innovations and persistence and by dialogic and monologic framing. This theoretical framework can aid our understanding of the sometimes fierce discursive battles in movement litigation, shedding light on how social movements influence legal policy development.

Monsters, Michael Myers, and the Macabre as Tools to Explain Ideological Framing

Framing as a metacommunicative device establishes the narrative of a given story and mobilizes emotional support. Within the framework of monster theory, horror movies are seen as a way of framing common fears about moral decay, concerns about the future, anxiety about outgroup members, and spiritual unknowns. In the classroom, we explore the monstrous body as a stand-in for the demonized (often literally) outgroup. Through tracing some of the historic roots of monsters, students are better able to see monsters as a recurring framing device for social fears. Utilizing the concepts of frame alignment (aligning individuals’ frames with larger social movement frames) and frame analysis (investigating the processes and mechanisms people utilize to make sense of situations), exploration of various subgenres of horror (including psychological horror, body horror, killers, monsters, zombies, and the paranormal) flesh out how frames are amplified, bridged, transformed, and extended.

A strike in the time of COVID-19 pandemic: The 2020 health workers’ dispute in Hong Kong

A short health workers’ strike held in early 2020 in Hong Kong at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates the importance of democratic framing of social movement unionism. A trade union was established during a period of massive civil unrest against the local government in 2019 and then proceeded to organise a strike within 2 months of formation to pressure both their employer and the government to enhance citizen and health workers’ safety as the pandemic entered Hong Kong. The paper explains the organisation, progress and reaction to the strike by different stakeholders. The case exemplifies mobilisation through strong democratic trade unionism and provides an example of social movement framing that combined membership and societal interests. The strike represents the last instance of successful independent union mobilisation in Hong Kong as governance shifted from laisse-faire industrial relations that favoured the local capitalist elite to state authoritarianism focussed on obedience to the national political elite.

No Dating No Cry: The Anti-Dating Activism of the `Indonesia Without Dating' Movement

The growing manifestation of Islamic teachings in post-Suharto Indonesia is reflected in the emergence of Islamic revivalist movements that have such religio-political aspirations as the domestic application of sharia-based laws and the re-establishment of the caliphate. However, the extent to which these movements interpret, implement, and frame this sharia varies from one movement to another. This paper examines one of these movements, the primary goal of which is to mobilize public support, particularly of youths in Indonesia, against dating. This movement is called the Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran or Indonesia Without Dating (ITP). It is a form of cultural activism that is centered on the issues of dating, which is framed as a by-product of Western modernity. Dating is thus not only labelled as forbidden in Islam; the movement also challenges its common practice among youths and attempts to offer guidance to them on the perceived ideal Islamic-based relations between unmarried male and female youths. Employing the perspective of framing in social movements, this paper shows that the ITP’s anti-dating activism is an inextricable part of its larger religio-political goal of implementing sharia in the country. Furthermore, the paper also demonstrates the strong connection between ITP and the already banned Islamic revivalist movement that calls for the re-establishment of the caliphate — Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).
 Keywords: Islamic activism, anti-dating movement, social movement, sharia, the caliphate, Indonesia

#fighteverycrisis: Pandemic Shifts in Fridays for Future’s Protest Communication Frames

ABSTRACT This qualitative social media framing analysis captures the discursive engagement with COVID-19 in Fridays for Future’s (FFF) digital protest communication on Facebook. In offering comparative insights from 457 posts across 29 public pages from FFF collectives in the European Union, this study offers the first analysis of social movement frames employed by FFF during the pandemic. By coding all Corona-related messages across collectives, we chart three framing processes: adaptation (compliance, solidarity), reframing (reclaiming the crisis, nexus between climate and health), and mobilization (sustained involvement, digital protest alternatives). We discuss our findings alongside social movement framing theory, including frame bridging and scope enlargement to accommodate the pandemic topicality into FFF’s environmental master frame, and frame development by FFF movement leaders. This study thus provides key insights into discursive shifts in social movements brought on by external crises that threaten to marginalize the cause and demobilize adherents.

Visual framing in the German movements for gay liberation and against nuclear energy

While the framing approach in the field of social movements has relied on analysing texts to the neglect of images, recent attention to visual framing in the field of media and communication studies largely overlooks the visual communication of social movements. This article addresses this gap by adapting methods derived from art history to unpack the nuances of meaning in movement-constructed images. It analyses the visual framing in posters of two German social movements, the movement for gay liberation and the movement against nuclear energy. Highlighting the need for information about a given movement’s history to socially contextualise how its images are likely to be read in context-specific times and places, we carve out the diagnostic, prognostic and motivational dimensions of visual framing. The analysis shows how images speak to viewers, arguing for visual analysis as an advisable supplement to studying textual framing in social movements.

Reflections on extracting moral foundations from media content

ABSTRACT Moral intuitions play a central role in communication processes, from the selection, valuation, and production of media content to political campaigning, opinion formation, and voting. The valid extraction of moral information from media content is a critical step toward understanding the dynamic transactions between moral frames and real-world events. In a recent case study, Wang and Liu (2021. Moral framing and information virality in social movements: A case study of #HongKongPoliceBrutality. Communication Monographs) manually coded the presence of moral intuitions in tweets surrounding the hashtag #HongKongPoliceBrutality to examine how moral frames modulate a tweet’s virality. Considering the numerous implications of this important work, we provide a commentary on Wang and Liu’s approach and procedures. We hope that our commentary contributes additional insights into the challenges and state-of-the-art of moral content codings in communication studies.

Framing the Collective “We” and the Antagonistic “Other” through Metacontrast: Intragroup Homogenization and Intergroup Polarization in the Hindu Nationalist Movement*

The right‐wing Hindu nationalist “Hindutva” movement in India has political control of the world’s most populous democracy. To gain insight into the tools of the movement, this paper examines Hindutva framing rhetoric. Social movement framing entails the crafting of movement messages to motivate collective identity and collective action. This paper takes a new approach to studying social movement framing by using the social psychological principle of metacontrast as an organizing theoretical framework. Metacontrast involves minimizing differences within the group (intragroup homogenization) and maximizing differences between groups (intergroup polarization). We argue dual homogenizing‐polarizing frames work in concert to construct a unified collective identity and mobilize concerted collective action. Using qualitative content analysis of two Hindutva organization websites, we find Hindutva framing rhetoric simultaneously homogenizes and polarizes through two framing strategies: a threat‐counter threat frame that portrays an antagonistic outgroup that must be countered with a unified ingroup, and a striking positive‐negative intergroup contrast that paints the ingroup as a moral protector and the outgroup as a vilified adversary. Notably, key to these efforts is the minimization of deeply entrenched, rigid caste differences. Our findings have implications for the study of social movements, nationalism, collective identity, collective action, and intergroup relations.

Combining Laclauian Discourse Analysis and Framing Theory: Václav Havel’s ‘Hegemonic Rhetoric’ in Charter 77

The literature on the resistance and protest movements of Czechoslovakian dissidents and intellectuals during the communist period is abundant, but little attention has been devoted to close rhetorical analysis of the texts by the leaders of these movements. In conducting a case study of the rhetoric of the Czechoslovakian social movement Charter 77 during its early period of activity (1977–1978) as embodied in the early political essays of its leader Václav Havel and in the declaration of the movement, this article highlights the need to combine two theories in studying the rhetoric of social movement leaders: Laclauian discourse analysis and social movement framing theory. The article claims that, in order better to explain the choice of rhetoric of social movements, the two theories can be used in a single framework as an empirical method for analyzing social movements’ strategies. The study shows how combining Laclauian discourse analysis with framing theory expands social movement analysis; in combination, this framework explains the inception, emergence and choice of strategy of the Charter 77 movement.