Making the most of the frame: developing the analytical potential of frame analysis

Frame analysis has been developed and applied across contexts in several disciplines such as policy analysis, where the perspective has proven fruitful to carve out essential differences in the construction of meaning and to understand the responsiveness of the strategic use of ideas. However, this article argues in line with other scholars that the analytical potential of frame analysis is not fully utilized in most empirical studies. The article addresses two points of critique raised against frame analytical perspectives: the limited view of the framing process and the limited understanding of frame effects. We suggest two analytical dimensions that help to develop the analytical potential of frame analysis in policy analysis and beyond: firstly, the institutionalization process of frames which can capture the struggle of meaning within policy processes and also distinguish between the varying influences of different frames over space and time. Secondly, the extension of frame effects that through a reconceptualization of frame effects can capture how a frame has an effect on actors other than the audience and beyond its immediate purpose.     

Loneliness and the use of social media to follow celebrities: A moderating role of social presence

Because social media provide users with the possibility of an easy way to communicate with celebrities in society, it has become a more common practice to follow celebrities through social media. However, there exists few studies that examine how people’s individual characteristics are related to their celebrity-following behavior. In this regard, the current study examines whether celebrity followers’ loneliness is associated with the following behavior of their favorite celebrity. Data were collected through an online survey (N = 210). Primary findings suggest that celebrity followers’ loneliness is positively related to frequent visits of their favorite celebrity’s social media, greater social-interpersonal motive for following the celebrity, and greater enjoyment of learning about personal life stories of the celebrity. Social presence is found to be a significant moderator that can intensify more favorable parasocial relationship perceptions with the celebrity.     

Perceived media bias and third person effect: Comparisons of Americans,Korean Americans,and Koreans in the United States

The current study examined the third person effect (TPE) in relation to media coverage of the shooting incident at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (i.e., Virginia Tech.) in April of 2007. TPE refers to tendency to perceive that media coverage influences others (i.e., the third persons) to a greater extent than self (i.e., the first person). Three groups (non-Korean Americans, Korean Americans, and Koreans living in the United States) were compared with one another for their perceptions of media coverage. Specifically, this study investigated how much individuals perceived media to influence themselves versus the American public and the Korean American public. Additionally, the current study examined the extent to which individuals’ focus on the shooter and their perceptions of media bias were related to TPE. The results showed support for TPE in terms of media coverage resulting in negative feelings toward Korean Americans and Koreans. As individuals focused more on the shooter and also perceived greater media bias against Korean Americans, they thought that the media coverage of the incident would be more likely to influence the American public to have negative feelings about Koreans and Korean Americans.     

Reconceptualizing the generation in a digital(izing) modernity: digital media,social networking sites,and the flattening of generations

As digitalization binds society to an apparently perpetual acceleration, questions about the nature of time and speed have gained new urgency in the social sciences. Yet, theorizations of these issues have neglected their implications for social life and generations. Linking these lacunae, this article articulates how digital media and social networking sites (SNS) shape social life through cultural transformations in the generation. This article rationalizes predominant patterns of SNS user behaviors in the context of social theoretical and philosophical frameworks informed by Mannheim, Simmel, Adorno, Benjamin, Arendt, social presence, action, and acceleration theories to offer a relational reconceptualization of the generation as a set of social relations and processes for visualizing changing conceptions of time and speed in a digital (izing) modernity. This article introduces the concept of general and local generationing processes to articulate the processual nature of the generation and to assert that trends in SNS use and content production are underwritten by grammatical logics that collectively “flatten” separate traditional generations to form a cross-demographic and cross-temporal digital generation.     

Recurrence,eruptions, and a transnational turn: Three decades of strained relations between migrants to Norway and the Child Welfare Services

The relations between the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS) and various migrant groups are notably strained. Numerous media accounts and a growing body of research reveal that many migrants to Norway fear the CWS. By combining quantitative and qualitative analyses of media accounts, this paper addresses the historical evolvement of such strained relations in Norway. Previous research has neglected this aspect. Findings show that migration issues related to the CWS have been topics of public debate in Norway for three decades, with foster care being a particularly intractable concern. With the onset of the decade beginning in 2010, however, matters have intensified and taken on transnational dimensions. In the discussion of our findings, we emphasize in particular how digital and social media have contributed to the recent changes.     

Using the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework to analyze the acequias of El Río de las Gallinas,New Mexico

As population and economic growth increase urban water demands, and traditional irrigation plays a smaller role in direct subsistence in New Mexico, irrigators on small, traditional systems often feel threatened. This paper uses the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to analyze the irrigation ditches of the Gallinas River, in San Miguel County, and aims to facilitate understanding of the persistent distrust some Gallinas irrigators feel toward city, state, and federal agencies. This distrust, sometimes due to a perception of differing property rights structures that result in what many irrigators feel is unfair treatment by various agencies, and sometimes to a simple lack of understanding, is often perpetuated by recounted stories of malfeasance. Degree of social capital, knowledge of water law, and technology vary greatly. While there are not many problems with outsiders, some of the larger ditches report very poor social capital.     

Age, Health and the Willingness to Pay for Mortality Risk Reductions: A Contingent Valuation Survey of Ontario Residents

We present the results of a contingent valuation survey eliciting willingness to pay (WTP) for mortality risk reductions. The survey was self-administered using a computer by 930 persons in Hamilton Ontario aged 40 to 75. Visual and audio aides were used to enhance risk comprehension. Mean WTP figures for a contemporaneous risk reduction imply a value of a statistical life of approximately C$l.2 to C$3.8 million (1999 C$). Mean WTP is constant with age up to 70 years, and is about 30 percent lower for persons aged 70 and older. WTP is unaffected by physical health status, but is affected by mental health.     

Aiming to keep poor Mexican families at the breadline (but no higher): The effects of minimum wage,tax, and social policy changes between 1994 and 2012

Welfare policy in Mexico has been transformed in recent decades. During the years of the import‐substitution industrialization economic strategy and the hegemonic party political regime, social policy was based on social insurance programs of limited coverage to urban formal sector workers and their families. In the mid‐1990s, an unprecedented expansion of social protection through social assistance programs was triggered, along with social insurance reform. This article assesses the effects at the household level of social policy changes, in combination with changes in taxes and the minimum wage, which also impact the welfare of the population. The research applies “model families” to establish effects of social, tax, and minimum wage policy changes across population groups, and their combined potential to combat poverty. Findings show that although taxation and social policy changes increased redistribution towards poor families, their capacity to lift and keep them above poverty thresholds was limited by the drop in the real value of the minimum wage and by strict targeting mechanisms, which exclude families that do not meet eligibility criteria but still fall below poverty lines. Social policy expansion merely subsidized the drop in real minimum wage, and poor families at best remained at similar income levels. Hence, the logic of the design of welfare policy changes can be characterized as aiming to keep poor families on the breadline, but no higher.     

The beginning of the end of Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral Ministry: A towering failure in crisis management as reflected through media narratives of financial crisis,family conflict,and follower dissent

In 2010–2011, the Crystal Cathedral Ministry, one of the world's most respected Christian megachurches (Frankl, 1990), endured a series of crisis events culminating with a court ordered sale of its property. This signaled the end of Robert H. Schuller's ministry. This research analyzes dozens of news stories published during the crisis, documenting that the ministry failed to effectively use the media to communicate on vital issues. This failure exacerbated the crisis by allowing, unchecked, a proliferation of news stories portaying the ministry as out of touch, and Schuller family members as quarreling spendthrifts. Despite Schuller's decades of service, national prominence, and ‘positive thinking’ focus, his ministry was overcome by the materialism he purported to stand against. The rapid downfall is an extraordinary event within Christian televangelism. Examining media reporting of it allows important conclusions to be reached about any organization's communication with media gatekeepers in a time of crisis.     

The Associations between income,informal social networks,and health among older adults in South Korea: A multi‐group analysis based on the level of age‐friendly environments

The aim of the present study was to empirically investigate the role of age‐friendly environments (AFE) on the associations between income, informal social networks, and health among South Korean older adults. We used data from the “2017 Age Integration Survey” collected nationally and ultimately analyzed 615 older adults over 50 years of age. Structural equation modeling and multi‐group analysis were used to test the hypothesis. Specifically, two groups of perceived levels of AFE (top 25%, bottom 25%) were compared in order to examine the moderating effects. The results indicated that poor income and scarce informal social networks each had a significantly adverse impact on health. However, the effect of income on health was no longer significant for older adults living in environments that were more age‐friendly. In both groups, the presence of fewer informal social networks adversely impacted health, although the sizes of the effects decreased when the level of AFE perceived by older adults was improved. Finally, several implications of the study findings were discussed.