Master Frame

Abstract

The term “master frame” was originally conceptualized in order to account for the empirical observation that cycles of protest occasionally emerge in the absence of a favorable political opportunity structure (POS). Given that POS had been theorized as the engine driving cycles of protest, an alternative explanation was sought from the social movement framing perspective to account for those instances when a number of movements clustered together during a period even though the structural conditions did not appear conducive for widespread mobilization. Under such conditions a cycle of protest could be attributed in part to the development of a resonant master frame. A master frame refers to a generic type of collective action frame that is wider in scope and influence than run-of-the-mill social movement frames (Snow & Benford 1992). Whereas most collective action frames are context specific (e.g., drunk driver frame, cold war frame, exploited worker frame, environmental justice frame, etc.), a master frame's articulations and attributions are sufficiently elastic, flexible, and inclusive enough so that any number of other social movements can successfully adopt and deploy it in their campaigns. Typically, once a social movement fashions and espouses a highly resonant frame that is broad in interpretive scope, other social movements within a cycle of protest will modify that frame and apply it to their own cause. For example, once the US civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s experienced a number of successes based on an equal rights and opportunities frame, several other movements, including the American Indian, women's, gay and lesbian, Chicano/a, and Gray Panthers, adopted and proffered a similar frame to their specific movement campaigns.