Do Activists Prioritize Solutions Over Grievances? A Twitter Study of Black Lives Matter

Year 2024, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 1 - 22, 31.03.2024

Basak Taraktas , Kadir Cihan Duran Susan Üsküdarlı

https://doi.org/10.14782/marmarasbd.1316065

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Do social movements shift the focus of their framing from grievances to tactics as they mature? This paper examines the nature of the frames that social movements and activists co-create using the case of Black Lives Matter (BLM). Building on (Snow & Benford, 1988), we explore whether BLM’s frames have evolved from diagnostic to prognostic frames since the movement’s emergence. We compiled a novel tweet dataset collected from Twitter that contains 269,963 tweets sent under the hashtag “BlackLivesMatter” from Jan. 01, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2021. Using time series and network analysis, we show that frames do not naturally evolve from diagnostic to prognostic frames as movements mature. We find that BLM activists increasingly use prognostic frames while expressing their grievances because injustices and discrimination toward the Black continue. The evidence suggests that tweets on tactics and solutions outnumber the grievance-related frames only after Chauvin’s guilty plea alleviates grievances.

Keywords

Black Lives Matter, online activism, framing, social networks

Supporting Institution

Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship

Project Number

MSCA-IF-2020 #101028566

Thanks

We would like to thank Rabia Kutlu for her invaluable assistance

Do activists prioritize solutions over grievances? A Twitter Study of Black Lives Matter

Abstract

Sosyal hareketler, olgunlaştıkça çerçevelendirme odaklarını şikayetlerden taktiklere kaydırır mı? Bu makale, Siyahilerin Hayatı Önemlidir (BLM) örneği üzerinden sosyal hareketlerin ve aktivistlerin birlikte oluşturduğu çerçevelerin doğasını incelemektedir. Snow ve Benford'un (1988) çalışmalarına dayanarak, BLM'in çerçevelerinin hareketin ortaya çıkışından bu yana tanısal çerçevelerden öngörüsel çerçevelere evrilip evrilmediğini araştırıyoruz. Twitter'dan derlenen yeni bir tweet veri kümesi kullanarak, 01 Ocak 2020'den 31 Aralık 2021'e kadar "BlackLivesMatter" etiketi altında gönderilen 269.963 tweet'i içeren bir veri kümesi oluşturduk. Zaman serisi ve ağ analizi kullanarak, çerçevelerin hareketler olgunlaştıkça doğal olarak tanısal çerçevelerden öngörüsel çerçevelere evrilmediğini gösteriyoruz. Bulgularımıza göre, BLM aktivistleri, hala adaletsizlik ve ayrımcılık devam ettiği için, şikayetlerini dile getirmek adina giderek daha fazla öngörüsel çerçeveler kullanmaktadır. Kanıtlar, taktikler ve çözümlerle ilgili tweet'lerin, Chauvin'in suçlu olduğunu itiraf etmesinden sonra şikayetle ilgili çerçevelerden daha fazla sayıda olduğunu göstermektedir.

Keywords

Black Lives Matter, online activism, social networks, framing

Project Number

MSCA-IF-2020 #101028566

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