School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
School of Social Sciences, University of Dundee, UK.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2018 Jul;57(3):666-683. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12249. Epub 2018 Feb 27.
Social psychological research on activism typically focuses on individuals' social identifications. We complement such research through exploring how activists frame an issue as a social problem. Specifically, we explore anti-abortion activists' representation of abortion and the abortion debate's protagonists so as to recruit support for the anti-abortion cause. Using interview data obtained with UK-based anti-abortion activists (N = 15), we consider how activists characterized women having abortions, pro-abortion campaigners, and anti-abortion campaigners. In particular, we consider the varied ways in which emotion featured in the representation of these social actors. Emotion featured in different ways. Sometimes, it was depicted as constituting embodied testament to the nature of reality. Sometimes, it was depicted as blocking the rational appraisal of reality. Our analysis considers how such varied meanings of emotion shaped the characterization of abortion and the abortion debate's protagonists such that anti-abortion activists were construed as speaking for women and their interests. We discuss how our analysis of the framing of issues as social problems complements and extends social psychological analyses of activism.
社会心理学对激进主义的研究通常侧重于个人的社会认同。我们通过探索激进主义者如何将一个问题框定为社会问题来补充这种研究。具体来说，我们探讨了反堕胎活动家对堕胎的描述以及堕胎辩论的主角，以便为反堕胎事业争取支持。我们使用在英国的反堕胎活动家（N=15）获得的访谈数据，考虑了活动家如何描述堕胎的妇女、支持堕胎的活动家和反堕胎的活动家。特别是，我们考虑了情感在这些社会行为者的描述中以不同方式出现的情况。情感以不同的方式出现。有时，它被描绘为构成对现实本质的具体证明。有时，它被描绘为阻止对现实的理性评估。我们的分析考虑了情感的这种不同含义如何塑造了对堕胎和堕胎辩论主角的描述，从而使反堕胎活动家被描绘成代表妇女及其利益的声音。我们讨论了我们对问题作为社会问题的框架的分析如何补充和扩展对激进主义的社会心理学分析。
