Communicating Change: When Identity Becomes a Source of Vulnerability for Institutional Challengers

Social movements challenge institutions through two related communication processes: articulating collective action frames and constructing collective movement identity. We argue that frames not only express movement identity, but also provide openings through which audiences’ interpretations and responses may shape that identity. Audiences’ unexpected responses to a movement’s frames can threaten the movement’s identity, and the salience of these threats varies based on the social movement actors’ roles. Specifically, we identify (1) a distinctiveness threat, arising from oppositional identity audiences unexpectedly embracing a movement’s framing, and most salient when movement participants act as agitators, articulating shared grievances to rally people; (2) an acceptance threat, arising from similar identity audiences when they unexpectedly reject the movement’s framing, and most salient when movement participants act as innovators, articulating possible solutions to the failings of the current state of affairs; (3) a dilution threat, arising from complementary identity audiences when they stretch the movement’s frames through their interpretations, and most salient when movement participants act as orchestrators, coordinating the structure and strategy of the movement as it grows. By illustrating how actors that aim to transform institutions may have their own identities transformed, this paper extends our understanding of communication in institutional change.