Frames and Narratives as Tools for Recruiting and Sustaining Group Members: The Soulforce Equality Ride as a Social Movement Organization*

Abstract

Structuring collective action, given diverse human thoughts, feelings, and behavior, is an arduous task. This article examines one way collective action can be facilitated by analyzing how social movement organizations (SMOs) use narratives as a key resource for recruiting members and sustaining participation. Data for this analysis were collected through participant observation and in‐depth interviews with 34 participants of the Soulforce Equality Ride (ER), a cross‐country bus journey—modeled after the Freedom Ride of the Civil Rights Movement—that toured 18 schools that ban the enrollment of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students. Findings indicate that the ER recruited participants, maintained commitment to the group and its cause, and met organizational goals by (1) crafting a frame that successfully taps into potential members’ existing emotions, ideologies, and experiences; (2) aligning these individual experiences with group messages and meanings via narratives; and (3) creating positive feelings for members. In doing so, SMOs can construct cognitive and emotional links between the individual and the SMO, thereby promoting group goals.

I Was a Teenage Vegan: Motivation and Maintenance of Lifestyle Movements

“…Many of these punks described their moment of enlightenment by telling a story, as Josh did above—the story of the moment they understood animal rights, the story of the last time they ate meat, the story of how they became vegan. This activity of storytelling is important to veganism, as a way in which people access emotional resources to mobilize collective action (Ganz ; Polletta ; Powell ). By sharing these stories with others in conversations at shows, and by repeating these stories to themselves, these punks internalized the vegan message.…”

“I Come Back a Better Person”: Identity Construction and Maintenance at a Regional Burn Festival

“…This is similar to the process uncovered among Soulforce Equality Riders, who developed a “moral identity contingent upon SMO participation,” “strengthened ties,” and commitment to the organization (Powell :455).…”

“…), vegans (Cherry ), and activists within the Global Justice Movement (Fominaya ). Likewise, it seems one's sense of identity may be altered through interaction with communities such as Erewhon and this highlights collective identity as a process rather than a static endpoint as Powell () and Snow () have been careful to illustrate. Erewhon does not universally adopt one sense of identity.…”

“…An important component of these identity processes involves the linking of lifestyle‐based and individual action to ideological frameworks that promote social change. Within the LGBT movement, Powell () found that activists crafted ideological frames that aligned with the “emotions, ideologies, and experiences” of students and staff involved. The Soulforce Equality Ride bussed LGBT activists to religious and military colleges excluding LGBT students, during which the activists collectively re‐conceptualized traditional homophobic and dogmatic interpretations of Christian ideology.…”

Fundamental Assumptions in Narrative Analysis: Mapping the Field

“…Narratives, as a way to represent experience, are hence tailored, consciously or not, and have an effect on the narrator and the audience. This idea is fundamental to the view that changing a narrative can bring transformation either at an organizational (Dunford & Jones, 2000), group (Powell, 2011) or individual level, both psychologically and physically (Ramirez-Esparza & Pennebaker, 2006).…”