{"id":5436,"date":"2014-01-17T08:08:51","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T08:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=5436"},"modified":"2014-01-17T08:08:51","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T08:08:51","slug":"framing-of-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2014\/01\/17\/framing-of-arguments\/","title":{"rendered":"Framing arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have just read a significantly flawed, but rather informative, report<\/a> from nef<\/em><\/strong> on the framing of the government\u2019s messages around their socio-economic (aka<\/em>, austerity) policies.\u00a0 From nef<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s point of view this amounts to a very clever way of presenting and arguing very poor policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell-framed, well-crafted and often repeated, the austerity story is the dominant political narrative in Britain today. \u00a0It shapes how most of us think and talk about the economy. \u00a0It has convinced most of the country of the need for huge public spending cuts and presents a coherent vision for the kind of society we should live in.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are two aspects to the report: [i] a discussion of socio-economic issues, and [ii] a discussion of how particular frames are used to present messages. Inevitably, the first of these (given that it\u2019s by nef<\/em><\/strong>), comes with a built-in preference for particular (ie, non-austerity) views which do rather colour the argument.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure nef<\/em><\/strong> thinks this is the whole point of the report, which starts:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Coalition tells a powerful story about the economy to make the case for austerity in the media and public communications. \u00a0It is consistent, memorable, uses vivid images and emotional metaphors, and is simple enough to be understood and retold.\u00a0 There are several frames that underpin it:<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \n
    \n
  1. Dangerous debt \u2013 the most important economic issue the UK faces is the size of public sector debt, caused by excessive public spending. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Britain is broke \u2013 the UK\u2019s public finances are like an individual household, which has spent all its money. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Austerity is a necessary evil \u2013 there is no economic alternative to spending cuts. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Big bad government \u2013 the bloated, inefficient and controlling government is getting in the way of progress, interfering in people\u2019s lives and rewarding the undeserving. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Welfare is a drug \u2013 like drug addiction, state support is tempting, but ultimately dangerous; benefit claimants are weak, reckless, undeserving and addicted to hand-outs. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Strivers and skivers \u2013 there are two kinds of people in Britain: hardworking strivers and lazy skivers, we each choose which to be. <\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Labour\u2019s mess \u2013 all the faults of our economy can be pinned on the previous (Labour) Government and their out of control spending.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ol>\n

    Clearly, not everyone will find the diagnosis and subsequent prescription plausible \u2013 well, I didn\u2019t: too many generalisations and convenient glossings-over for my taste \u2013 and far too many complex issues presented as simple binary choices.\u00a0 However, though you may find such aspects uneven, there\u2019s no getting away from the fact that the report is an excellent discussion (and illustration) of the idea and practice of framing, which shows its persuasive power.\u00a0 The report notes:<\/p>\n

    \u201c\u2026 when a frame is strongly held we tend to ignore facts that do not fit with it. \u00a0The austerity story is a powerful narrative that is embedded in public consciousness. \u00a0It cannot be challenged with facts. \u00a0Only with new frames and a different story about the economy can it be dislodged.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    There\u2019s much here for those bent on making a persuasive case \u2013 whatever it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have just read a significantly flawed, but rather informative, report from nef on the framing of the government\u2019s messages around their socio-economic (aka, austerity) policies.\u00a0 From nef\u2019s point of view this amounts to a very clever way of presenting...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}