Sterud, Sommer Marie, Ph.D., August 2021 ENGLISH TRACING FRAMING PROCESSES in the ABORTION DEBATE
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Sterud, Sommer Marie, Ph.D., August 2021 ENGLISH TRACING FRAMING PROCESSES IN THE ABORTION DEBATE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION OF A PRO-LIFE LOBBYING ORGANIZATION Dissertation Advisor: Derek Van Ittersum COVID, coupled with a flurry of black deaths at the hands of policemen, has spawned a new era of social movements. As online environments have multiplied, so have people’s options for civic engagement. As a result, the field of writing studies and rhetoric is full of new research that questions what a social movement is and what it can do. However, it has yielded little empirical data that details the behind-the-scenes activity of a social movement organization. How can we understand what constitutes a social movement today if we rely only on what we see happening in the streets or on the internet? Such a front stage view only allows us access to the final product of activism, and thus, obscures the complex circumstances that catalyze and shape civic engagement. This research is an attempt to understand such circumstances, especially those related to writing as a tool to gain a more powerful position within a social movement network. In addition to there being little empirical research on social movements within writing studies and social movement rhetoric, there is a scarce body of literature that addresses how conservative social movements work. For many, the election of Donald Trump on the heels of our first black president has revealed surprising facts about our culture as fears about immigration, gun control, and abortion have been inflamed. Political debates about race, climate change, voter suppression, and reproductive rights restrictions make the study of conservative rhetorical tools even more critical. Using one prominent pro-life lobbying and social movement organization as my specifying site, this dissertation study aims to understand what motivates, influences, and facilitates a social movement. What entanglement of ideology, circumstances, and personal attachments exist within an activist organization, and how do these factors influence the language and delivery methods of such defining documents as mission statements, donor letters, legislation, and recruitment materials? Inspired by sociohistoric scholars like Clay Spinuzzi, Stephen Witte, and Bruno Latour, this dissertation project answers writing and rhetoric scholars’ call for more interdisciplinarity to reinvigorate the study of social movement within the field. By tracing the actors in a prominent pro- life organization, I was compelled to reckon with activity outside the bounds of writing and rhetoric to gain a fuller picture of how this organization garners support and achieves organizational goals. In addition, relying on Iddo Tavory and Stefan Timmermans’ (2014) methodological theory, Abductive Analysis, I consulted numerous disciplines outside my own to better understand this lobbying and social movement organization; thus, this project serves as an example to other scholars who wish to more closely investigate the complexities of both the front and backstage literate activity that has contributed to an organization’s rise to power. Tracing Framing Processes in the Abortion Debate: An Ethnographic Investigation of a Pro-Life Lobbying Organization A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Sommer Marie Sterud August 2021 © Copyright All rights reserved Dissertation written by Sommer Marie Sterud B.A., Capital University, 2001 M.F.A., Ohio State University, 2004 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2021 Approved by ______________________________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Derek Van Ittersum ______________________________, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Sara Newman ______________________________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Pamela Takayoshi ______________________________ Dr. Daniel Skinner ______________________________ Dr. Lique Coolen Accepted by ______________________________, Chair, Department of English Dr. Babacar M’Baye ______________________________, Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Mandy Munro-Stasiuk TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………….v LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………………...vi LIST OF FIGURES……..……………………………………………………...………………...vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………viii CHAPTERS I. INTRODUCTION TO PRO-LIFE X AND DISSERTATION STRUCTURE ………………..1 II. METHODOLOGY AND METHODS……………………………………………………….27 III. INVESTMENT, MAINTENANCE, AND CULTIVATION OF POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY WITHIN A PRO-LIFE ORGANIZATION….………………………..….57 IV. HOW LEGISLATIVE TESTIMONY AND TECHNOLOGY SHAPES PRO-LIFE FRAMING………………………………………………………………………………........93 V. PRO-LIFE IDEOGRAPHS AND MATERIAL IDEOGRAPHS.…………………………...124 VI. CONCLUDING THE TRACE……………………………………………………………..160 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………….181 APPENDICES A. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS………………………………………………………....198 B. COLLECTED ARTIFACTS…………………………………………………………199 v LIST OF TABLES 2.1 Methods, Aims, and Outputs………………………………………………………………….42 2.2 Round-one Interview Codes…………………………………………………………………...44 2.3 Round-one Twitter and Email Codes………………………………………………………….45 2.4 Round-one Artifact Codes…………………………………………………………………….46 2.5 Round-one Field Note Codes…………………………………………………………………47 2.6 Round-one Memo Codes……………………………………………………………………...48 2.7 Witness Codes…………………………………………………………………...…………….50 2.8 Committee Comments and Questions Codes………………………………………………….50 2.9 Second-Cycle Coding Across Data…………………………………………………………….52 3.1 Refined Social Exchange Codes……………………………………………………………….61 3.2 Definition and Examples of Social Exchange Codes…………………………………………..61 3.3 Triangulation Chart of Susan B. Anthony and Charlotte Lozier in Tweets, Emails, and Interviews……………………………………………………………………………………..71 3.4 Triangulation Chart of PLX’s Margaret Sanger Messaging……………………………………..74 3.5 Triangulation Chart of Legislative Day References…………………………………………….77 3.6 Triangulation Chart of the Use of Media as a Tool in Framing………………………………...81 3.7 Holiday Emails Requesting Donations………………………………………...………………82 3.8 Triangulation Chart of Endorsement Messaging………………………………………………85 3.9 Epideictic Messages for Endorsed Candidates who Sponsored or Voted for PLX Legislation.………………………………………………................................................................87 3.10 Interview Mentions of Students for Life and Oratory Contestants………………………........89 3.11 Emails and Tweets Referencing SFL or High School Oratory Contest…………………….....90 4.1 Codes for Testimony as a Resource…………………………………………………………...98 4.2 Witness Codes………………………………………………………………………………...98 4.3 Committee Comments and Questions Codes……………………………………………….....99 vi 4.4 Sample Testimony from Medical Professionals………………………………………………104 4.5 Interested Party Versus Pro-Life X Witnesses: Emotion Versus Data-Driven Testimony……106 4.6 Examples of PLX Advocacy Frames in Testimony…………………………………………...110 4.7 Coding for Technology as a Resource………………………………………………………..118 4.8 PLX Twitter Updates and Clarification During Testimony…………………………………...121 5.1 Second-Round Coding for Strategy…………………………………………………………..128 5.2 Definitions and Examples of Semantics Codes………………………………………………128 5.3 Sub-ideograph “Person”……………………………………………………………………...137 5.4 Sub-ideograph “Pregnant Person/People”…………………………………………………...139 5.5 Sub-ideograph “Forced Pregnancy”………………………………………………………….140 5.6 Sub-Ideograph “Pregnancy Center”………………………………………………………….141 5.7 Sub-Ideograph “Abortion Facility”…………………………………………………………..142 5.8 Sub-Ideograph “Dignity”…………………………………………………………………….144 5.9 Sub-Ideograph “Shame” and “Stigma”……………………………………………………….145 5.10 Sub-Ideograph “Science”…………………………………………………………………....147 5.11 Sub-Ideograph “Dismemberment”………………………………………………………….152 vii LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 Senate Committee Chambers…………………………………………………………………33 2.2 House Committee Chambers…………………………………………………………………33 2.3 Streamlined Codes-to-Theory Model for Qualitative Inquiry………………………………….53 2.4 Codes-to-Category Cluster 1…………………………………………………………………..54 2.5 Codes-to-Category Cluster 2…………………………………………………………………..54 4.1 The “Iron Triangle”…………………………………………………………………………...65 viii Acknowledgements First, I want to thank my dissertation advisor, Dr. Derek Van Ittersum, who was a constant source of support and motivation. He met me where I was at every step in the process while gently nudging me to dig a little deeper or go a little farther. I have had very few mentors who were so available to and invested in their students. Having to endure countless theoretical propositions and emotional breaks, he consistently offered honest, thoughtful feedback, and I am forever grateful. Thank you to my participants who, although we share very different views on reproductive rights, did welcome me with an openness that I wish more of us with opposing views could demonstrate. To Dr. Sara Newman: I do not know if I would have continued beyond semester one without your presence in the program. You have been unconditionally encouraging from the start with a teaching and conferencing style that is warm and inspiring. You believed my project was important from the beginning and were not afraid to tell me for fear of my becoming complacent in my research. And finally, you treated me like a colleague during the dissertation phase, which I appreciate beyond measure. Thank you! Dr. Pamela Takayoshi, your feedback was invaluable during the final stages of my dissertation, as it placed a magnifying glass over any leaps in logic or methods unaccounted for. Moreover,