Which Identity Frames Boost Support for and Mobilization in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement? An Experimental Test

Framing the Black Lives Matter movement through Black nationalist, feminist, or LGBTQ+ rights lenses produces varied effects on African Americans' attitudes about the movement and willingness to support it.

Introduction

Since 2014, the Black Lives Matter movement has manifested in hundreds of protests against police brutality and state violence against African Americans. Leading activists have centered gender and LGBTQ+ identities in their messaging about the movement, reflecting the concept of intersectionality, which holds that marginalized individuals exist and experience racial, gender, sexual, and class identities at the same time.

Existing literature compares the Black Lives Matter movement to New Social Movements that have emerged in industrialized societies since the 1980s, a framework that suggests Black Lives Matter activists should integrate messaging about the various identity groups of the movement into their activism. There has been little empirical research, however, on how New Social Movements' identity messaging shapes the public's opinion or motivation to engage in political action.

This study aimed to understand how Black Lives Matter leaders' messaging about gender, sexuality, and racial identities affects African Americans' attitudes and participation in the movement. To do so, it used a survey experiment to evaluate the effects of three identity frames — Black nationalist, feminist, and LGBTQ+ rights — on respondents' support of the movement and willingness to write a letter on its behalf to an elected official.

Findings

Black nationalist, feminist, and LGBTQ+ rights frames have different effects on respondents' willingness to support the Black Lives Matter movement and engage in related political action.

Movement Support

  • Among all survey respondents, the Black nationalist frame produced no statistically significant difference, the Black feminist frame produced non-significant negative effects (p = 0.08), and the Black LGBTQ+ frame produced non-significant negative effects (p = 0.19).
  • Among female respondents, the Black nationalist frame produced non-significant positive effects (p = 0.39), the Black feminist frame produced non-significant negative effects (p = 0.46), and the Black LGBTQ+ frame produced non-significant positive effects (p = 0.30).
  • Among male respondents, the Black nationalist frame produced no statistically significant difference, the Black feminist frame produced negative effects (p = 0.07), and the Black LGBTQ+ frame produced negative effects (p = 0.008).

Political Action

  • Among all survey respondents, 59.4% reported willingness to write a letter in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and 53% of respondents actually wrote a letter.
  • Identity frames did not affect whether respondents reported willingness to write a letter in support of the Black Lives Matter movement or whether they actually did so. They did, however, shape the content of the letters, with men who received the Black nationalist frame more likely to mention disparities and women who received the Black nationalist frame more likely to mention the police.

These findings add to the growing body of literature about the challenges in creating popular intersectional movements, suggesting that framing based on sub-group identities can produce fragmented support. Contrary to popular understanding, these findings show that adopting gender or LGBTQ+ frames as the master frame for the Black Lives Matter movement does not mobilize any particular subgroup more but does demobilize African American men. These findings also underscore the heightened responsiveness of women across identity frames, raising the question of how African American women respond when confronted with several competing movement messages. Further research is needed to investigate why African American men are demobilized in response to certain frames.

Methodology

A survey was distributed to 849 African American respondents through a Qualtrics panel from February 15-23, 2019. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that presented different descriptions of the Black Lives Matter movement: 1) the Black nationalist frame, which included a strong, unifying statement about the Black community, 2) the Black feminist frame, which emphasized Black women's specific experience of marginalization, 3) the Black LGBTQ+ frame, which emphasized Black LGBTQ+ individuals' specific experience of marginalization, and 4) the control condition, which provided a basic description of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Afterward, participants responded to questions about their general support of the Black Lives Matter movement, perceptions of its effectiveness, trust in its goals, and attitudes toward leading activities' decisions. They were also asked about their willingness to write to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in support of the movement's goals. If they expressed willingness to write a letter, respondents were provided with space to write Pelosi a message.

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Cite this Article

MLA

Bonilla, Tabitha, and Alvin B. Tillery. "Which Identity Frames Boost Support for and Mobilization in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement? An Experimental Test." American Political Science Review, vol. 114, no. 4, 2020, pp. 947-962.

APA

Bonilla, T., & Tillery, A. B. (2020). Which Identity Frames Boost Support for and Mobilization in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement? An Experimental Test. American Political Science Review, 114(4), 947-962.

Chicago

Bonilla, Tabitha, and Alvin B. Tillery. "Which Identity Frames Boost Support for and Mobilization in the# BlackLivesMatter Movement? An Experimental Test." American Political Science Review 114, no. 4 (2020): 947-962.

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