Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy Metal and Rap Music Author(s): Amy Binder Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 58, No. 6 (Dec., 1993), pp. 753-767 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095949 Accessed: 29-11-2017 20:03 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms American Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Sociological Review This content downloaded from 130.86.100.70 on Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:03:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CONSTRUCTING RACIAL RHETORIC: MEDIA DEPICTIONS OF HARM IN HEAVY METAL AND RAP MUSIC AMY BINDER Northwestern University The literatures on social movements, the media, and the sociology of culture have ad- dressed how ideologicalframes are imposed on social events and cultural texts. I extend this work on "social framing" by describing the construction and selection processes that explain why media writers appropriate some frames but not others, and why some frames "resonate" with broad cultural beliefs. I analyze the rhetoric in media accounts from 1985 to 1990 of the dangers posed to children and society by heavy metal music and rap music.