Skip to main content

Political Framing - Key Sources

We can define framing as the process of culling a few elements of perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights connections among them to promote a particular interpretation. Fully developed frames typically perform four functions: problem definition, causal analysis, moral judgment, and remedy promotion. - Entman qted in Entman 2007 p. 164

George Lakoff - Frame Semantics and Conceptual Metaphor Theory​

Primary Sources:

  • Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors We Live By. United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press.
  • Lakoff, G. (2008). Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press.
  • Lakoff, G. (2014). The ALL NEW Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. United States: Chelsea Green Publishing.
  • McGlone, M. S. (2007). What is the explanatory value of a conceptual metaphor? Language & Communication, 27(2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2006.02.016 For a critical assessment of Lakoff’s conceptual metaphor’s explanatory value

Robert M. Entman - Framing Theory and Four Functions​

  • Primary Sources:
  • Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
  • Entman, R. M. (2004). Projections of power : framing news, public opinion, and U.S. foreign policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Entman, R. M. (2007). Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 163–173. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00336.x

Frame Semantics Foundational Work (Charles Fillmore)​

Since Lakoff's frame semantics builds on Fillmore's foundational work:

  • Fillmore, C. J. (1982). Frame semantics. In Linguistic Society of Korea (Ed.), Linguistics in the Morning Calm (pp. 111-137). Hanshin Publishing.
  • Fillmore, C. J., & Atkins, B. T. S. (1992). Toward a frame-based lexicon: The semantics of RISK and its neighbors. In A. Lehrer & E. F. Kittay (Eds.), Frames, Fields, and Contrasts (pp. 75-102). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Other consulted works:​

Benford, R., & Snow, D. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611. 

Garrison, W. A. (1988). The 1987 Distinguished Lecture: A Constructionist Approach to Mass Media and Public Opinion. Symbolic Interaction, 11(2), 161–174.

Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95(1), 1–37.

Gamson, W. A., & Meyer, D. S. (1996). Framing political opportunity. In D. McAdam, J. D. McCarthy, M. N. Zald, eds., Comparative perspectives on social movements: Political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings, 275-90. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.q

Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis : an essay on the organization of experience. Harper & Row.

Hall, S. (1992). Culture, media, language : working papers in cultural studies, 1972-79. Routledge in association with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham.

Holmgreen, L.-L., & Huang, M. (Eds.). (2020). The language of crisis : metaphors, frames and discourses. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. The American Psychologist, 39(4), 341–350.

Lakoff, G. (2011). How to Frame Yourself: A Framing Memo for Occupy Wall Street. UC Berkeley. Retrieved from

Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R. P. (1977). Scripts, plans, goals and understanding : an inquiry into human knowledge structures. L. Erlbaum Associates.

info

License: Discourse Depot © 2025 by TD is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0