Self-Framing of Women in U.S. Politics on Instagram
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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2020-02-24 Self-Framing of Women in U.S. Politics on Instagram Madison Marie Parks Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Fine Arts Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Parks, Madison Marie, "Self-Framing of Women in U.S. Politics on Instagram" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 9044. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/9044 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Self-Framing of Women in U.S. Politics on Instagram Madison Marie Parks A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Pamela J. Brubaker, Chair Scott Church Kris Boyle School of Communications Brigham Young University Copyright © 2020 Madison Marie Parks All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Self-Framing of Women in U.S. Politics on Instagram Madison Marie Parks School of Communications, BYU Master of Arts This study explored how women involved in U.S. politics visually framed themselves on their Instagram pages. While recent research in political communications examined the use of Facebook and Twitter, few studies assessed Instagram’s role in the game of politics. Guided by political and visual framing theories, a quantitative content analysis of Instagram posts (N = 1,947) from women involved in U.S. politics was conducted. This examination allowed for an exploration of how these public figures framed themselves on Instagram and the extent to which they shared personal content, despite their varied involvement in U.S. politics. Results showed that: both Democrat and Republican women shared political content more often than personal content; Instagram affords a visual-first emphasis for different political issues; and women most often framed themselves as the credible, ideal stateswoman, while still showcasing their personality. Implications for this study affirm Instagram as a legitimate political communications platform, despite its reputation as a food and travel haven. Keywords: women in politics, Instagram, political framing, self-framing, personalized politics iii Table of Contents TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. iiii Self-Framing of Women in U.S. Politics on Instagram .................................................................. 1 Review of Literature ....................................................................................................................... 2 Female Portrayals in U.S. Politics .............................................................................................. 2 Social Media and Politics............................................................................................................ 4 Politics on Instagram............................................................................................................... 4 Women’s use of social media ................................................................................................. 7 Women’s use of Instagram. .................................................................................................... 7 Framing in Politics ...................................................................................................................... 8 Visual framing. ....................................................................................................................... 9 Political parties on social media ........................................................................................... 12 The personalization of politics .............................................................................................. 13 Aging in politics and social media ........................................................................................ 16 Engagement............................................................................................................................... 17 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 19 Content Selection Procedures ................................................................................................... 19 Coding Definitions .................................................................................................................... 20 Political involvement ............................................................................................................ 20 Coding Procedures .................................................................................................................... 21 Instagram account. ................................................................................................................ 21 Coding Instagram posts......................................................................................................... 22 Visual framing. ..................................................................................................................... 23 Political vs. personal content. ............................................................................................... 26 Engagement........................................................................................................................... 26 Intercoder reliability.............................................................................................................. 27 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Idealist and Populist Framing Techniques ................................................................................ 28 Items of statesmanship (idealist) ........................................................................................... 30 Items of compassion (idealist) .............................................................................................. 31 Items of ordinariness (populist) ............................................................................................ 32 Items of mass appeal (populist). ........................................................................................... 33 Political Involvement and Framing Techniques ....................................................................... 34 Personal and Political Content .................................................................................................. 34 iv Age and Framing Techniques ................................................................................................... 36 Engagement on political vs. personal posts .......................................................................... 37 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 38 Political Over Personal Content ................................................................................................ 39 Political content .................................................................................................................... 39 Personal content .................................................................................................................... 41 Predominant themes by political party ................................................................................. 43 Instagram’s Visuality for Politics ............................................................................................. 47 Blending Idealist and Populist Frames ..................................................................................... 48 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 50 Limitations and Future Research .............................................................................................. 50 References ..................................................................................................................................... 52 Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix A ............................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix B ............................................................................................................................... 72 Appendix C ............................................................................................................................. 101 Appendix D ............................................................................................................................. 105 Appendix E ............................................................................................................................. 106 1 Self-Framing