Latent Framing Opportunities for Movements and Counter-movements: The US Network Neutrality Debate, 2005-2015

• In Event: 3451 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 6. Frames and Framing

Abstract

Explanations for issue framing by movements and movement opponents often externalize opportunities for issue framing. In this paper, I draw attention to the endogenous processes through which opportunities for issue framing can unfold. I do this through a case study analysis of counter-movement framing of network neutrality policy in the United States, from 2005 to 2015. Drawing primarily from an original dataset of Congressional hearings concerning network neutrality policy, I argue that network neutrality opponents activated new framing opportunities through non-discursive activity in institutional venues. Specifically, I show how the ‘regulatory authority’ frame that came to characterize later discussions of network neutrality in Congress became available only after counter-movement opponents challenged early regulatory rules in court, thereby legitimizing – partly through the court’s proceedings, and partly by instigating a response from the regulator – an alternative conceptualization of network neutrality policy as a threat to constitutional principles of governance. In doing so, I articulate a view of framing opportunities as (at times) latent within institutional contexts, dependent on non-discursive activity by movement and counter-movement actors to be brought into play.

Author

• Gabriel Menard, University of Toronto