ABSTRACT

This qualitative social media framing analysis captures the discursive engagement with COVID-19 in Fridays for Future’s (FFF) digital protest communication on Facebook. In offering comparative insights from 457 posts across 29 public pages from FFF collectives in the European Union, this study offers the first analysis of social movement frames employed by FFF during the pandemic. By coding all Corona-related messages across collectives, we chart three framing processes: adaptation (compliance, solidarity), reframing (reclaiming the crisis, nexus between climate and health), and mobilization (sustained involvement, digital protest alternatives). We discuss our findings alongside social movement framing theory, including frame bridging and scope enlargement to accommodate the pandemic topicality into FFF’s environmental master frame, and frame development by FFF movement leaders. This study thus provides key insights into discursive shifts in social movements brought on by external crises that threaten to marginalize the cause and demobilize adherents.

摘要

这种定性的社交媒体框架分析捕捉了周五 Future (FFF) 在 Facebook 上的数字抗议交流中与 COVID-19 的话语接触。通过提供来自欧盟 FFF 集体的 29 个公共页面上的 457 篇帖子的比较见解，本研究首次分析了 FFF 在大流行期间采用的社会运动框架。通过跨集体对所有与电晕相关的信息进行编码，我们绘制了三个框架过程：适应（合规、团结）、重构（恢复危机、气候与健康之间的联系）和动员（持续参与、数字抗议替代方案）。我们与社会运动框架理论一起讨论我们的发现，包括框架桥接和范围扩大，以将大流行的话题性纳入 FFF 的环境主框架，和 FFF 运动领导者的框架开发。因此，这项研究提供了对社会运动话语转变的重要见解，这些转变是由外部危机引起的，这些危机有可能使事业边缘化并使追随者复员。