Voices That Shape the Identities of Conflicting Social Actors: A Frame Analysis of Collective Action around Labour Issues in Argentina (2002-2006)

Abstract

Presented in this article are theoretical and methodological links between framing (as developed by Erving GOFFMAN in his book "Frame Analysis", 2006 [1974]) and other methodologies used in the study of communication (e.g., critical discourse analysis, news making research, which analyzes the routines of editorial, news, and public attitudes approaches, which study the effects of communication), highlighting the main points of convergence. Regarding the use of media sources for the study of collective action, our approach raises a methodological alternative for overcoming one of the weaknesses of aprioristic strategies used to examine identity fields (HUNT, BENFORD & SNOW, 1994) and the frameworks of diagnosis, prognosis, and motivation (SNOW & BENFORD, 1988). This alternative consists of distinguishing the voices that construct identity fields and diagnostic framing, prognostic framing, and motivational framing, thus improving the structure of the analysed material on the collective actions of employed and unemployed labourers in Argentina between 2002 and 2006.

This methodological option allows us to reveal, in the case of extended labour conflicts, the visibility constructed by the media and begins with more descriptive frames, with greater reference to the "voices" of the actors, highlighting different emphases between them. Subsequently the media tend to acquire their own voice, explicitly assuming the role of explaining what actually happens, consequently providing weaker resonances between the voices of those who assume the identity of protagonists and the voice of the press. Such a relationship would affect the strength of the resonance between audience frames and collective action frames, diminishing their credibility, empirical consistency, and relative salience.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1201252