When Frames (Don’t) Matter: Querying the Relationship between Ideas and Policy

Henri Bergeron (1) , Patrick Castel (1) , Abigail Saguy (2)

1 CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS)
2 UCLA - University of California [Los Angeles]

How social phenomenon are defined – or framed – is assumed to inform subsequent policy. Yet, the actual relationship between framing and policymaking remains understudied and undertheorized. This article aims to remedy this deficit by drawing on three broad sociological and political science literatures that rarely speak to each other but which together provide insights and theoretical leverage for addressing this question. Specifically, it draws on the literature on social movements and framing, social problem construction, and political theory (on agenda setting, ideas-driven policy, and policy instruments). It presents theoretical propositions for predicting relative consistency between dominant social problem frames and subsequent public policy, in order to animate and guide subsequent research. It argues that the relationship between social problem framing and policymaking – whether seemingly consistent or inconsistent – must be systematically problematized [First lines]

Mots clés: framing; social problems; policy instruments; consistency

Domaines: Science politique

Henri Bergeron, Patrick Castel, Abigail Saguy. When Frames (Don’t) Matter: Querying the Relationship between Ideas and Policy. 2014. ⟨hal-01503847⟩