Explaining Suffrage Mobilization: Balance, Neutralization, and Range in Collective Action Frames, 1892–1919

Abstract

Growing evidence points to the pivotal role of framing processes in the mobilization of social movements. Our study contributes to framing theory by drawing on data from state-level woman suffrage movements in the U.S. to provide a systematic comparison of the mobilizing capacities of different collective action frames. Specifically, we examine the differential impact of the justice, societal reform, and home protection frames. Rather than assuming that all frames deployed by movements contribute equally to successful mobilization, we distinguish between effective and ineffective frames. Results of cross-sectional time series analyses suggest that the use of the reform frame positively influenced membership growth in state suffrage organizations, while the use of the justice and home protection frames had no effect. We conclude that there are three key determinants of a frame's mobilizing capacity: a balanced (i.e., culturally resonant and oppositional) message, the range of issues addressed, and the effective neutralization of counterframes

What Strikes the Responsive Chord? The Effects of Framing Qualities on Frame Resonance among Protest Participants*

“…However, these studies examine the persuasiveness of frames indirectly. Authors show a positive relationship between the use of particular frames by SMOs and protest participation or movement emergence (e.g., Hewitt and McCammon 2004;McVeigh, Myers, and Sikkink 2004;Pedriana 2006), but the actual frames of the individuals who joined the movement remain unexamined. Most scholars who study frame resonance generally fail to assess which frames actually resonate with protest participants.…”

Feminist Institutional Activists: Venue Shifting, Strategic Adaptation, and Winning the Pregnancy Discrimination Act

“…And they debunked businesses’ estimates that the cost of offering benefits to pregnant workers would be prohibitively high by drawing on the experiences of companies such as IBM, Polaroid, and Xerox that already provided equal benefits to pregnant workers. As social movement scholars (Hewitt and McCammon :155) indicate, framing strategy that uses a wide array of argumentation offers multiple points where potential and diverse adherents can “latch on.” This is precisely the discursive strategy institutional activists deployed as they utilized a broad set of frames to persuade lawmakers across the political spectrum in the Congressional arena.…”

Mobilizing cause supporters through group‐based interaction

“…Thus, the same group‐based processes that contributed to group formation for supporters involved in the initial planning stages, may also help explain how supporters not directly involved in planning action come to identify themselves as opinion‐based group members, and thereby, become motivated to act. For the core group of supporters, finding actions that resonate with the greatest number of existing sympathizers is therefore likely to be important for galvanizing wider support (Benford & Snow, ; Hewitt & McCammon, ).…”