Midterm Lecture 4 Exam Notes

**Midterm: Lecture 4 -- exam notes** Role of culture in social movements: [interpretation matters]. - Activists interpret their situation and their perception of what is worthy, contain their capacity to act and their tactic: identity and framing. Collective identity - An individuals...

**Midterm: Lecture 4 -- exam notes** Role of culture in social movements: [interpretation matters]. - Activists interpret their situation and their perception of what is worthy, contain their capacity to act and their tactic: identity and framing. Collective identity - An individuals cognitive, moral, and emotional connection with a broader community. - Collective identity describes what makes people a "category": a bundle of traits that we believe make us unique - [Perception of shared relation]: imagined communities (personal identify is different -- more authentic. A collective identify needs a common denominator) Emergence of collective identities - Previously: identity = "interests" gaining access to political power - Identities derive from: historical/natural/exclusion-based construction - "working class", "black", "homosexual" - Culture: identity models stemming from social, economic and political relations (creates solidarity, feeling of trust, etc.) - Politically determined - Networks as facilitators of the creation of mobilizing identities - Esp. in repressive regimes, e.g. literary circles in Eastern Europe - "Free space" isolated from others, such as the kitchen or church - Occurs sometimes only during protest events, "moral shocks" (pictures, videos, etc) can mobilize people who do not know each other - Organizers use creativity in inventing new identities to sustain solidarity and commitment Identity as incentive for social movements - Collective identity helps solve the free rider problem (individuals motivations align with the movement's goals -- shared sense of purpose) - Solidaristic behavior is something you expect from others (loyalty, respect, etc) motivates to protest - Decision-making reflects expression rather than strategic logic - Making identity claims can be seen as a protest strategy **Framing** - [Portraying and applying images to perceive the world in a certain way.] - Help sort out information (what we do is "good" and what they do is "wrong") - Frame analysis emphasizes the meaning of conflicts and events (facilitates mobilization -- e.g. Floyd murder) **3 functions of framing** 1. **Diagnostic framing:** a. Phenomenon is converted into a social problem (no longer an individual responsibility or a result of "natural factors") b. Identification of those responsible for the situation (e.g. injustice frame) c. Diagnosing a problem helps to identify the actors who have opinions on it d. Example: environmental movement, anti-nuclear movement, weather extreme (e.g. Hurricane Milton) e. Often the messages are short and clear, e.g. "our house is on fire" and "there is not a housing crisis, there is an immigration crisis" 2. **Prognostic framing** f. Involves seeking solutions, ways of regulating relationships between groups, and new articulations of consensus (e.g. agency frame) g. Example: anti-capitalism, full rights for immigrants 3. **Motivational framing** h. Actors need to be convinced (intuitively and rationally) i. Frames need to link the individual sphere with the collective experiences j. Frames need to show the relevance of a problem to individual life experience k. Strongly related to identity building (e.g. identity frame) l. Examples: "we are all Palestinians", "yes we can" (Obama), "no more apathy! we must act now!" **Master Frames** - Collects all frames in a specific historical and political context - Different dominant visions of the world in different periods ([dominant interpretative frames]) - It affects the discourse of social movements, they need to adjust their "individual" frames to master frames - "Class conflict" vs. "Return to democracy" - different frames for the same struggle emerge. Frames are successful when: - Messages are coherent and from credible sources - Frames are salient and refer to meaningful, important aspects of life - Should resonate with a broader cultural context - "Frame alignment" between movement activists and the people they tend to mobilize: values and goals should be congruent **Criticism of the cultural approach** - The relationship between values and action is not empirically valid - Potential activists' commitment to values of freedom and equality is a poor predictor of actual participation - People with similar values in different contexts act differently - Frames are changing and evolve, so they are not a reliable predictor of protesting (risk of ad hoc explanations) - Frames/narratives are a particular kind of resource (so they could be part of the Resource Mobilization approach) - Emotional dimension is largely missing (e.g. anger, fear, hope, satisfaction).