Affective Framing and Dramaturgical Actions in Social Movements

With the increasing use of innovative and expressive dramaturgical actions in contemporary social movements, activists appeal to the public’s emotional and moral convictions so as to elicit action. This study aims to investigate how the affective framing process, composed of sensual–emotional dramaturgical actions, can unleash the mobilizing and consolidating forces in social movements. I seek to elaborate upon the cognitively confined framing perspective by expanding the theoretical discussion to include the affective dimension of framing. I explore these issues through the investigation of a resistance movement in Tsoi Yuen Village, a rural community in Hong Kong, in which people rallied against the demolition of their community to make way for a regional express railway connecting Hong Kong to China. Through this investigation, I argue that dramaturgical tactics employed in social movements enhance the affective mobilization and consolidation power of framing through the mediation of emotional and moral components.