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Framing a ‘social problem': Emotion in anti‐abortion activists' depiction of the abortion debate
Author(s) -
Ntontis Evangelos,
Hopkins Nick
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/bjso.12249
Subject(s) - abortion , framing (construction) , social representation , social psychology , psychology , social movement , social issues , embodied cognition , sociology , gender studies , political science , epistemology , law , politics , pregnancy , philosophy , genetics , structural engineering , engineering , biology
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.