Adherence to the Protest Paradigm

Boyle, Michael P.; McLeod, Douglas M.; Armstrong, Cory L.

doi:10.1177/1940161211433837

Cited by 108 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In line with this, future research needs to explore how bias in media coverage of protests main affect non-participants' support for self-defence actions against the police when authorities restrict the right to protest. Addressing the role of media is particularly important once we consider that previous literature on communication has stressed how social movements' prospects can be affected by media ownership and connection with political elites (see Chan & Lee, 1984;Chan, 2017;Tan, 2017); consumption patterns of media (see Lee, 2018); the negative coverage of those protests where violence occurs (see Boyle, McLeod, & Armstrong, 2012;Lee, 2014;McLeod, 2007); and the impact of different media framing on the legitimacy of mobilization processes (see Valentim, 2019).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond peaceful protest: When non-participants support violence against the police

Saavedra¹,

Drury²

2019

Preprint

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One of the most controversial issues related to protests is the use of violence by protesters. Although there is a strong social norm against protest violence, research has suggested that protesters’ endorsement of non-violent actions can change according to the legitimacy of police actions during protests. However, both non-participants’ support for protest violence and its relationship with authorities’ measures regarding protests have barely been studied. To address this, we interviewed 17 British undergraduate students with diverse previous experiences as protesters about their views on protest violence. For the interviews, we used vignettes to describe two fictional scenarios, one where the government and the police actively restrict the right to protest and another where authorities facilitate protesters’ actions. A thematic analysis incorporating elements from the ideological dilemmas approach was carried out to explore the range of arguments related to protest violence. We found that most participants articulated a variety of expressions that made up a recognisable cultural pattern: protest should be peaceful. However, when participants perceived that ‘the right to protest’ was threatened by state repression, those who earlier rejected protest violence argued that they would support the use of violence against the police as ‘self-defence’. Our findings suggest there are pervasive frameworks for interpreting and responding to real contexts of political openness and repression, and reflective of people’s ability to simultaneously hold contradictory views about the legitimacy of protest violence.

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Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond peaceful protest: When non-participants support violence against the police

Saavedra¹,

Drury²

2019

Preprint

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“…Many scholars, for instance, are examining the role of information and communication technologies in facilitating contentious politics (Bennett and Segerberg 2013;Castells 2012). Other scholars have investigated the coverage of protests taking place in one nation in the news media of other nations (Boyle et al 2012;Harlow and Johnson 2011). Using the protest paradigm as a conceptual framework for such studies amounts to what Giovanni Sartori (1970) called "conceptual stretching"-applying concepts in contexts they were not intended for (p. 1036).…”

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confidence: 99%

Protesting the Paradigm

Shahin

Zheng

Sturm

et al. 2016

The International Journal of Press/Politics

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This study assesses the scope and applicability of the "protest paradigm" in non-Western contexts by examining the news coverage of Brazilian, Chinese, and Indian protests in their domestic media. Two publications from each nation, one conservative and one progressive, are content analyzed for adherence to a series of marginalization devices that have often been used by the U.S. media to ridicule protest movements and portray them as violent. The Indian media emerge as the least likely to follow the protest paradigm, while Brazilian and Chinese media conform to it in moderate levels. Comparative analysis suggests the historical legitimacy of informal power negotiations in a political culture makes news media more willing to take protesters seriously and limits adherence to the protest paradigm. In contrast, a news organization's ideological affiliation with the government of the day, rather than any ideology per se, makes it relatively more likely to conform to the protest paradigm. Marginalization devices such as circus, appearance, and eyewitness accounts are rarely used in any of these nations. But disparity of sources, (non)reference to protesters' causes and violence, and violence blame appear to be abiding features of news coverage of protests everywhere.

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“…Second, while there are many similarities in how conservative and liberal blogs evaluate the TPM and OWS, they have different criteria for movement unworthiness. Conservative blogs denounce the unlawful, disruptive, and disrespectful lack of decorum of OWS protestors, thus conforming to the mainstream media's "protest paradigm" (Boyle et al 2004(Boyle et al , 2005(Boyle et al , 2012Hertog and McLeod 1995;McLeod and Hertog 1999). But liberal blogs focus on the unworthiness of the Tea Party's cause, denouncing its invalid grievances and goals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, scholars identify the specific frames media outlets use to characterize the movement (e.g., Boykoff and Laschever 2011;Boyle et al 2004Boyle et al , 2005McLeod and Hertog 1999;Prior 2014;Rojecki 1999). Finally, scholars determine whether stories about a movement are favorable or unfavorable overall (e.g., Banerjee 2013; Boyle et al 2004Boyle et al , 2005Boyle, McLeod, and Armstrong 2012;Rohlinger 2007). Research on coverage volume speaks to acknowledgment, research on "standing" speaks to engagement, and research on specific media frames or overall coverage favorability speaks to endorsement.…”

Section: Media Certification Of Social Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By denying this final level of certification, the certifier effectively inverts its acknowledgment and engagement. In fact, mainstream outlets often adhere to a "protest paradigm" that marginalizes a movement by discussing the physical appearance or mental abilities of protesters, and their violent, confrontational, or deviant behavior (e.g., Boykoff 2006;Boyle et al 2004Boyle et al , 2005Boyle et al , 2012Gitlin 1980;Hertog and McLeod 1995;McLeod and Hertog 1999;Rojecki 1999). Such denouncement means that the outrageous and dramatic displays that generate coverage undermine activists' credibility as serious political actors.…”

Section: Media Certification Of Social Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are They Not Worthy? How Partisan Political Blogs Legitimize the Tea Party Movement and Occupy Wall Street

Laschever

2017

Sociological Forum

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Social movements struggle to gain acceptance as legitimate actors so that they can raise money, recruit members, and convince politicians to meet their demands. We know little, however, about how this legitimacy is granted by various political authorities, in part because legitimacy is often poorly operationalized. To operationalize legitimacy, I revise Charles Tilly's () classic concept of WUNC displays (i.e., public presentations of worthiness, unity, numbers, commitment) to assess how political authorities legitimize social movements. I analyze original data on the coverage the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street received from 20 elite political blogs during a critical event early in each movement's development. I find that liberal and conservative blogs both use the same aspects of worthiness (and not unity, numbers, or commitment) to endorse their preferred movement but different aspects of unworthiness to denounce the movement they opposed. Conservative outlets were more partisan on both accounts. This suggests that these blogs' shared status as distinctly partisan political outsiders produces a similar, but not identical, relationship with social movements. While both sets of blogs legitimize and delegitimize a movement based on its specific strengths and weaknesses, conservative blogs act more as a partisan bullhorn and liberal blogs act more as a forum for debate.

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Adherence to the Protest Paradigm

Cited by 108 publications

References 19 publications

Beyond peaceful protest: When non-participants support violence against the police

Beyond peaceful protest: When non-participants support violence against the police

Protesting the Paradigm

Are They Not Worthy? How Partisan Political Blogs Legitimize the Tea Party Movement and Occupy Wall Street

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