Glossary

Successful collaboration begins with a shared language, hence the need for a glossary. This joint effort of contributors from several teams ensures, on the one hand, terminological and conceptual coherence across not only our theoretical approaches, but also the qualitative case studies and quantitative research conducted in OPPORTUNITIES. On the other hand, our glossary facilitates communication between the academic side of the project and the fieldwork conducted by NGOs, uniting our teams working from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Mauritania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Senegal.

For more information about the Structure and Objectives of the Glossary, click here...)

Frame analysis (aka framing analysis)

Kirk Hallahan (1999) points out that the origins of the use of the concept of framing can be traced to the early seventies, with the seminal contributions by Gregory Bateson (1972) and Erving Goffman (1974). These scholars already acknowledged that reality as such is too overwhelming and that people need shortcuts to make sense of this reality, hence the need for so-called frames. The most frequently quoted definition of “framing” in media and communication studies, however, was provided by Robert Entman. He suggested that frames “select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (Entman 1993, 53) Sunday Olasunkanmi Arowolo aptly describes what the application of the framing cocontemporary media and communication studies means: “Framing theory suggests that how something is presented to the audience (called “the frame”) influences the choices people make about how to process that information. Frames are abstractions that work to organize or structure message meaning. The most common use of frames is in terms of the frame the news or media place on the information they convey. Framing theory explains that the media create this frame by introducing news items with predefined and narrow contextualisation. Frames can be designed to enhance understanding or are used as cognitive shortcuts to link stories to the bigger picture.” (Arowolo 2017, 1)

⇢ see also: Filter bubble, Frames of migration

References and further reading:

Arowolo, Sunday Olasunkanmi. 2017. Understanding Framing Theory. Lagos: State University of Lagos Press.

Bateson, Gregory. 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays. In Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. Northvale, NJ and London: Jason Aronson Inc.

Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Entman, Robert. 1993. “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm.” In Journal of Communication. 43.4: 51–58.

Hallahan, Kirk. 1999. “Seven Models of Framing: Implications for Public Relations.” In Journal of Public Relations Research. 11.3: 205–242.

Category: A

Work Package: 2, 4, 5

[DC / LH / SM]

 

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