Claimsmakers, Social Movements, and Framing

Activists as Claimsmakers

OUTSIDER CLAIMSMAKERS: Individuals lacking easy access to publicity and those in positions of power.
- Examples:
  - Student organizations on college campuses.
  - New social movement organizations.
- Outsider claimsmakers often employ attention-grabbing tactics (e.g., protests, sit-ins, public displays) to garner media attention as a means to promote their message.
INSIDER CLAIMSMAKERS: Individuals with easy access to publicity and those in positions of power.
- Examples:
  - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
  - The National Rifle Association (NRA).
  - The AARP.
- Lobbyists representing powerful groups often have direct access to policymakers, allowing them to pursue claims outside the public eye.

SOCIAL MOVEMENT: A broad cause that motivates activists and social movement organizations to address a specific troubling condition (e.g., environmental preservation, healthy living, promoting the arts).
SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS (SMO): A specific organization that belongs to a social movement.
- Examples of environmental preservation SMOs:
  - The Sierra Club.
  - Greenpeace.
  - World Wildlife Federation.
- Activists frequently view other organizations within their social movement as rivals, possibly due to competition for resources, recognition, or differing strategies.

INERTIA: A reluctance to alter existing social arrangements.
- Social movements typically encounter resistance from groups who:
  - Benefit from the status quo/current arrangements.
  - Are unwilling to invest the effort needed to make change happen.
  - Disagree on specific issues.
Countermovements:
- Countermovements can emerge in opposition to social movements.
- While SMOs advocate for change, counter-movements oppose it.

FRAMING: The way claimsmakers construct claims about a troubling condition.
- Frames consist of three components:
  - Diagnostic frames (grounds): identifying the problem
  - Motivational frames (warrants): why action should be taken
  - Prognostic frames (conclusions): proposed solutions
- The same issue can be framed in various ways.
FRAME ALIGNMENT: Ways in which activists try to promote a social movement’s frame to prospective members.
- Frame alignment methods:
  1. Frame Bridging (easiest): Connecting with individuals who already support similar causes.
  2. Frame Amplification: Highlighting values and beliefs to evoke an emotional response.
  3. Frame Extension: Expanding the frame to incorporate concerns that prospective supporters may have.
  4. Frame Transformation (hardest): Encouraging prospective supporters to adopt a new perspective on an issue.
FRAME DISPUTES: Disagreements among activist groups on how to frame a particular troubling condition.
- Social movements may include both moderate and radical SMOs that target different audiences:
  - Moderates: often target older people and the middle class.
  - Radicals: often target younger and poorer groups.
- Accusations of "selling out" may arise when SMOs engage in frame extension.

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION: Gathering money, members, and other resources needed by a social movement.
- Important resources are often scarce:
  - Persuading donors to fund a social movement can be difficult.
  - Engaging people to donate time for protests, public hearings, or distributing materials can be challenging.
- SMOs within the same social movement often compete for members, donations, and media coverage.
Fundraising is crucial; different types of people donate money:
- CONSTITUENTS: Anyone who supports a social movement.
- BENEFICIARIES: People who stand to benefit from a social movement’s success (e.g., parents working to improve their child’s school).
- CONSCIENCE CONSTITUENTS: People who contribute money or participate in demonstrations because they believe in a cause, even if they are not direct beneficiaries (e.g., supporting AIDS relief in Africa).
- Fundraising methods include in-person appeals, mail campaigns, internet solicitations, and telephone calls.
- Rhetoric often stresses an urgent opportunity or impending threat.
Organizations with larger budgets have advantages:
- Individuals who acquire skills (e.g., fundraising, rhetoric, media relations) while helping one SMO are valuable and can be hired by other SMOs or social movements.
- The more funds an organization starts with, the more resources it can allocate to securing future funds.
- Greater resources facilitate media access and influence on policymakers.

CULTURAL OPPORTUNITIES: A situation in which a shift in popular ideas makes it possible to change how a particular troubling condition is addressed.
- Activists become sought after by the media and legislators.
- Examples:
  - School shootings.
  - Human trafficking.
- Cultural opportunities can arise when a major event or news story brings an issue to public attention; timing is essential.
Cultural opportunities can also emerge when people become accustomed to a master frame:
- MASTER FRAME: A broad construction that can be easily adapted and applied to many troubling conditions.
  - Examples:
    - The concept of "equal rights" expanded from racial equality to include women, people with disabilities, same-sex relationships, etc.
    - Embracing "privacy" can manifest in various forms.
POLITICAL OPPORTUNITIES: A situation in which a shift in power makes it possible to change how a particular troubling condition is addressed.
- A shift in power, such as changes in which party controls the House of Representatives or the Senate, can cause:
  - Shifting priorities (e.g., international vs. domestic concerns).
  - Weakening of opposition to a social movement (e.g., competing groups may lose influence, creating an opportunity).
- Advocates should be prepared to act when cultural and political windows of opportunity open and patiently wait when they close.

OWNERSHIP: When one’s construction of a troubling condition becomes widely accepted.
- Groups that take ownership of an issue are seen as the go-to authorities whom media and policymakers consult for information.
- These connections help them maintain their competitive edge:
  - The NAACP has ownership of racial inequality.
  - The NRA has ownership of the right to own firearms.
- A social problem can have multiple owners, especially on controversial issues.

Maintaining ownership of an issue serves a few strategic purposes:
1. It keeps an owner’s frame visible and familiar.
2. It reaffirms the owner’s authority over the issue.
Long-term ownership is more likely if an organization covers a variety of related issues.
When a new or previously ignored issue is brought to the public’s attention, there are three possible outcomes:
1. No one assumes ownership (issue fades away).
2. Activists establish a new SMO that can assume ownership.
3. Existing SMOs assume ownership of the new issue.
Ownership of an issue can benefit the issue and the owners.