Influence of Mission, Audience, and Policy Context on Issue Framing: A Case Study of Mobilization Against Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale

• Main Author: Zafar, Rezwana
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks @ UVM 2016
• Subjects: Fracking; Framing; Interest Group; Marcellus Shale; Movement Mobilization; Environmental Sciences; Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Sociology
• Online Access: http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/595; http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1594&context=graddis

The case of mobilization against hydraulic fracturing by interest groups provided an opportunity to examine the influence of three factors (mission, audience, and policy context) on diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing. A comparative analysis was conducted of the mobilization activities of five national environmental organizations with a local presence in the Pennsylvania and New York Marcellus Shale regions. The organizations varied with respect to organizational mission, the audiences they were targeting (urban and rural), and the policy context in which they worked (pro and anti-hydraulic fracturing). Data came from eleven semi-structured in-depth interviews with organization personnel, and from the organizations' websites and published documents. The results of this research show how the organizations use diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing to mobilize citizens against hydraulic fracturing. They illustrate the influence of organizational mission, audience (urban versus rural), and policy context in how the groups take on these framing tasks. Overall, the findings provide insights into the variation in frames and framing that can occur at the organizational level inside a movement. They illustrate the explanatory value of investigating multiple factors as they affect diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing.