This article asks how the cultural environment shapes activist claims making. Using data from a grassroots antitoxicshti-incinerator movement field study, I show how activists modify their political claims as they shift their discussion from the interpersonal level (back region) to the wider public (front region). Each region has distinct constraints and opportunities that shape the construction and potency of activists' claims.I begin by describing the interrelations between movement frames and the cultural environment; I then argue that the concept of "cultural resonance" captures these interrelations. Next, I describe the front region and back region collective action frames that activists constructed. Despite their denial, they presented claims that differed between regions. I use the ideas of region and cultural resonance to argue that distinct regionspecific conventions shaped activist frames into conventional styles, forms, and themes. I conclude by discussing processes of intramovement solidarity, and prospects for intermovement cooperation.We now know a great deal about how social movement activists frame reality into coherent "schemata of interpretation" that "organize experience and guide action" (Snow, Rochford, Worden and Benford 1986, p. 464). Studies of framing illuminate movement interpretive and mobilization processes, but many examine only the activities among activists and elites (e.g., Benford 1993a;1993b;Snow and Benford 1992). This interpersonal focus diverts attention from the contexts in which interpretive actions occur.In contrast to the conventional focus on interpersonal mobilization, some studies do explore the context and construction of movement ideology (. These studies help allay Robert Benford's (1993b, p. 210) statement that "interpretive scholars have tended to neglect the historical, cultural and structural contexts in which movement constructions of reality occur," but both the original social psychological orientation of the framing literature and the related questions about interpersonal mobilization remain popular and, to some extent, conflated with the newer context-sensitive approaches and their specific questions about the construction and potency of movement frames.Movement interpretive work and the framing context are empirically intertwined and Direct all correspondence to Tim Kubal, Sociology, SIU, Carbondale, IL 62901.
This article summarizes key findings and provides suggestions for further research in the literature that combines social movements and collective memory. Existing reviews of the collective memory literature highlight the macro and micro levels of analysis; studying movements and memory adds a meso level of analysis. This review covers all three levels and for each level discusses research methods, the social consequences of memory activism, recurring patterns, and explanations. Suggestions for future research emphasize the concept of repertoire and its relation to memory. Tactical repertoires and cultural repertoires provide the resources needed to construct collective memories, and repertoires empower memory activists to engage the political sphere, create change, and nurture solidarity within movement organizations. Because the idea of a repertoire uncovers a process of remembering and is already a widely used term in social movement studies, it provides a resonant tool for future movement and memory research.
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