Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2015-12 Identification of behavioral indicators in political protest music Alexander, Chad T. Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/47977 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS IDENTIFICATION OF BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS IN POLITICAL PROTEST MUSIC by Chad T. Alexander December 2015 Thesis Advisor: Sean F. Everton Second Reader: Daniel T. Cunningham Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704–0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202- 4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED (Leave blank) December 2015 Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS IDENTIFICATION OF BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS IN POLITICAL PROTEST MUSIC 6. AUTHOR(S) Chad T. Alexander 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING Naval Postgraduate School ORGANIZATION REPORT Monterey, CA 93943-5000 NUMBER 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND 10. SPONSORING / ADDRESS(ES) MONITORING AGENCY N/A REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. IRB Protocol number ____N/A____. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Planning and preparing to influence the behavior of foreign target audiences (TA) is an immense and complex task. Current military information support operations (MISO) rely on content-based understandings of standard source material, such as traditional news sources. This approach is limited because each TA has cultural traits that may not be revealed by standard sources. Unconventional sources may supplement current practices and assist in identifying the motivations behind a TA’s behavior, which can lead to ways to influence that behavior. Political protest songs are one such source. Protest music is goal-oriented, and lyrics often parallel movement goals of potential TAs. This thesis examines how political protest music can help identify conditions and vulnerabilities that may explain TA behavior. It takes the first step forward in exploring the value of political protest music to the MISO process by employing network text analysis to illuminate symbols, buzzwords, stereotypes, and factoids that reveal behavioral indicators. What is challenging for practitioners is that there is no single method that best identifies all behavioral indicators with political protest music. It remains that results may simply identify behavioral indicators, and that any full explanation of behavior must be developed as part of the whole MISO process. 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF military information support operations, MISO, psychological operations, PSYOP, PAGES information warfare, target audience analysis, political protest music, protest music, 185 network text analysis, NTA, behavioral indicators, behavioral vulnerabilities, behavioral 16. PRICE CODE conditions, information strategy, political warfare, social network analysis, network analysis, content analysis 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE OF ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540–01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2–89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239–18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited IDENTIFICATION OF BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS IN POLITICAL PROTEST MUSIC Chad T. Alexander Major, United States Army B.A., History, University of Washington, 2003 B.A., Comparative Religion, University of Washington, 2003 MPA, Webster University, 2008 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION STRATEGY AND POLITICAL WARFARE from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL December 2015 Approved by: Sean F. Everton, Ph.D. Thesis Advisor Daniel T. Cunningham Second Reader John Arquilla, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Defense Analysis iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT Planning and preparing to influence the behavior of foreign target audiences (TA) is an immense and complex task. Current military information support operations (MISO) rely on content-based understandings of standard source material, such as traditional news sources. This approach is limited because each TA has cultural traits that may not be revealed by standard sources. Unconventional sources may supplement current practices and assist in identifying the motivations behind a TA’s behavior, which can lead to ways to influence that behavior. Political protest songs are one such source. Protest music is goal-oriented, and lyrics often parallel movement goals of potential TAs. This thesis examines how political protest music can help identify conditions and vulnerabilities that may explain TA behavior. It takes the first step forward in exploring the value of political protest music to the MISO process by employing network text analysis to illuminate symbols, buzzwords, stereotypes, and factoids that reveal behavioral indicators. What is challenging for practitioners is that there is no single method that best identifies all behavioral indicators with political protest music. It remains that results may simply identify behavioral indicators, and that any full explanation of behavior must be developed as part of the whole MISO process. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 A. THE COMPLEX AND IMMENSE INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT .............................................................................. 2 1. The Complex Military Environment ................................... 2 2. Military Information in a Complex Environment .............. 5 3. The Relevance of Music and Pop Culture to MISO .......... 8 B. RESEARCH QUESTION ............................................................... 11 C. CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 11 II. REVIEW OF MISO DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE ................................... 13 A. MILITARY INFORMATION SUPPORT OPERATIONS ................ 13 1. The Seven-Phase MISO Process ..................................... 13 2. Target Audience Analysis ................................................ 16 B. ROOTS OF MISO DOCTRINE ...................................................... 18 C. REVISION OF MISO DOCTRINE .................................................. 20 III. REVIEW OF TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC THEORIES ............................................................................................... 23 A. CRASH COURSE IN POPULAR AND FOLK MUSIC THEORIES .................................................................................... 23 B. MUSIC ........................................................................................... 24 C. EMOTION AND EXPRESSION IN MUSIC .................................... 26 1. Emotions ........................................................................... 27 2. Power ................................................................................. 28 D. ASSOCIATIONISM, EXPRESSION, AND COALITION BUILDING THEORIES .................................................................. 30 1. Coalition Building Theory ................................................ 31 2. What Do the Lyrics Mean? ............................................... 34 E. MUSIC INFLUENCES ACTIVITY AND BEHAVIOR ..................... 34 F. BRIEF HISTORY OF POPULAR AND FOLK MUSIC AS THEY PERTAIN TO POLITICAL PROTEST MUSIC .................... 36 G. WHY POLITICAL PROTEST MUSIC? .......................................... 39 IV. SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY .............................................................. 45 A. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 45 B. SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY ................................................... 45 1. Contemporary Social Movement Theory (Overview) ..... 47 vii 2. Frame Alignment .............................................................. 48 3. Core Framing Tasks ......................................................... 50 C. MOVEMENT GOALS, FRAMING PROCESSES, AND TARGET AUDIENCES .................................................................. 50 V. DATA AND METHODS............................................................................ 53 A. APPROACH .................................................................................. 53 B. CASE SELECTION ......................................................................