Frames and their Consequences

1. Frames and their Consequences For Rural Issues

2. How do people think about social issues?

3. What Research Suggests About How People Process Information • People are not blank slates • People use mental shortcuts to make sense of the world • Incoming information provides cues that connect to the pictures in our heads • People get most information about public affairs from the news media, which creates a framework of expectation, or dominant frame • Over time, we develop habits of thought and expectation and configure incoming information to conform to this frame

4. Smoking: Old Frame Choice/freedom Individuals Drug addiction (personal vice) Responsibility of parents Bad behavior (teens’) Vital industry Protection (Just say no) Smoking: ReFrame Defective Product BigTobacco Manipulation of drug addiction Responsibility of government Big $ in politics/corruption Deviant industry Protection from advertising Reframing Tobacco CHANGE BEHAVIOR CHANGE PUBLIC POLICIES

5. What Are Frames? Big ideas -- shared and durable cultural models -- that people use to make sense of their world. These simplifying concepts are ‘triggered’ by such readily available, familiar and highly charged vehicles as symbols, pictures, metaphors, and messengers – the grammar of storytelling. One evoked, frames provide the reasoning necessary to process information and to solve problems.

6. The Power of Frames • Tell us what this communications is ABOUT • Signal what counts, what can be ignored • “Fill in” or infer missing information • Influence decision outcomes

7. Therefore… • Persuasive communications cannot depend on simply putting information in front of people • It must change the lens through which they see the information • If the facts don’t fit the frame, it’s the facts that are rejected, not the frame • Awareness is not the (only) goal; if the frames don’t work, your issue will fall off the public agenda

8. How Americans Think AboutRural Issues

9. The Communications Challenge • Understand people’s existing frames of reference with respect to rural issues • Anticipate the way your communications will be processed, how it will interact with default frames about rural issues • Give people an alternative, complete model or frame from which they can reason on these issues

10. The Research Base • 30 one-on-one interviews 10 each urban, suburban, rural Maryland, Colorado, Illinois • 7 focus groups New Hampshire (3), Arkansas (2), New Mexico (2) mixed gender, ethnicity/race Urban/suburban + rural (2 hour drive) community influentials screen • Builds on extensive prior research from Kellogg Focus groups, survey research, content analysis, etc.

11. What Are the Pictures in Americans’ Heads When they think about rural America?

12. Depends on Where You Sit • Q: How do people in rural areas make a living? • A: Beats the heck out of me. If they don’t farm, I have no idea. [urban IL man] vs. I think one of the problems in rural areas is that there aren’t enough white collar jobs. I’m speaking for this particular area. It’s a very blue collar town, and I would like to see this town, anyway, develop some white collar jobs, some high-tech jobs. [rural IL woman]

13. Implication 4 Rural Dystopia Implication 5 Implication 6 Implication 7 Rural Systems Implication 8 Implication 9 When In Doubt, Default Visible Attitude Issue Implication 1 Rural Utopia Implication 2 Implication 3

14. What Frames Are Availablefrom Media The Dominant Frame • Rural = areas facing urbanization and trying to preserve their rural past or atmosphere (encroachment) • Change = loss • Rural residents oppose it • “TV news just wasn’t interested in civic life in rural America.” • Change = inevitable • Future = negative, fearful • Less about agriculture or farming than open space • 1/12 = quaint and charming • 1/12 = economically challenged, socially marginalized • Farm Bill covered as “politics as usual” • Largely episodic, little contextualization or issues orientation • Nice place to visit Center for Media and Public Affairs for W. K. Kellogg Foundation, content analysis of 337 rural stories, national TV, magazine and print

15. “I’ve done some traveling in the South and there the real poverty is devastating. I mean people live in shacks I’ve driven past that looks like if you sneezed it would fall down. Not quite as bad a place as like India, but…”[urban CO male] Poverty, hardship, hopelessness Backward Dysfunctional Shiftless, trashy, inbred, drunk The Other Rural DystopiaAnother Available Default Frame

16. Rural Systems:Connect the Dots • Explains disconnection, decline, lack of a reliable economic base • Shows cause and effect • Connects rural to rest of America – both physically and same issues • Gets civic culture and empowerment into picture • Wal-Mart, not Mayberry or Dogpatch

17. Big pictures not snapshots Interconnections between people in cities and country No quaintness Lack of facilities and services affecting many people Situations not people Systems Thinking

18. Rural Utopia • Life is simple • Poverty is a virtue • Encroachment is the main threat • We help each other • They chose this lifestyle

19. I'm thinking in a rural neighborhood, life is much simpler… [It’s not about] the latest color of eyeshadow that came out, which is what a city need is, or, in suburbia it's that wine that you need for dinner. I mean, not that not that people in rural neighborhoods are light-years behind anybody else, I mean, but there's probably a smaller selection, so their needs are probably more basic… I'm not saying that as a put-down, I think that's something people need to revert back to. I'm all for it. You know? Eliminate all the 20 different products of one thing, you know, we don't need it. [suburban IL woman] Life is Simple

20. Consequences of the Rural Utopia Frame:Poverty Is Not A Rural Problem Q: So when you think about poverty in America, would you associate that more with cities or with the country? A: I think the cities. I think I hear more about it in the cities, the large cities. Although I take stuff to the mission down here [in a small Colorado town] and I know there’s plenty of poor people down there…I mean the inner city, that’s where to me, I think you have more poverty. [rural CO woman] Well, I’d rather be poor in the country than I would in the city. I feel very sorry for people that have very bad incomes and live in the city. I really don’t know what, how they manage. Whereas in the country, you can just go outside and smell the grass and..I really don’t have much feeling of how they cope with it. I feel terribly sorry for them and I think it’s very sad. [rural CO woman] Q: Do you think there tends to be more poverty in rural parts of the country or more in the cities? A: I think more in the cities, like out here [in suburban Colorado], I don’;t really see many homeless people, but like in the city, there’s tons of them. Q: Okay. But in rural areas you figure people probably aren’t so poor? A: Or they go to the city. I don’t know. Like they might be struggling, but I mean they’re not like to the verge of poverty, I guess. [suburban CO woman]

21. Rural people Own land Work hard Self sufficient Ennobling Urban people Are dispossessed Are lazy Hand out Degrading Consequences of the Rural Utopia Frame:Poverty Is Not A Rural Problem

22. Rural Natural Simple Backward No stress Get away from it all Village Government would spoil it Urban Man made Complex Progress Stress Strive, achieve Isolated individuals Government tries to fix it Consequences of the Rural Utopia Frame:No Role for Government

23. Consequences of the Rural Utopia Frame:Encroachment as the Main Threat • Progress is inevitable • Save the Family Farm = Save the Whales • Precious resources to be mined till gone vs. disrupted systems • Leads to Museum Stance and tourists in the rural landscape

24. A Rural Code of Ethics Do whatever you can for yourself When things get tough, sacrifice and do with less When necessary, help friends, family and neighbors Only truly dysfunctional people would need outside help Intervention is not respectful We Help Each Other

25. “I don’t think farmers are being exploited, because it’s a choice. They’ve chosen to do that as where their passion is or how they want to live.” [suburban IL man] If you don’t like being the country, why don’t you go somewhere else? They Chose This Lifestyle

26. Foreground Simplicity Self-sufficiency Choice Saving/preserving (Invisible) poverty Conclusion Don’t spoil it Don’t interfere Move Museum mindset The way things are supposed to be Consequences of the Frames

27. Speculative Reframes from Past Research • Rural areas are places of innovation. • Rural areas are places of history and culture. • Rural areas are places of diversity. • Rural areas are an untapped asset. • What are the consequences of these frames from FW elicitations? • What are the consequences of these frames from FW focus groups?

28. More ingenious than high-tech Work with what you’ve got (self-sufficiency) Doesn’t automatically set up education, training, jobs Needs work to prevent default Rural areas are places of innovation.

29. Already think that Negates Rural Dystopia Sets up Rural Utopia Antiquated forms Modern progress is inevitable Save the last best space/museums mindset Rural areas are places of history and culture.

30. Diversity of race and ethnicity not routinely perceived May connect to crime frame, if asserted Intra-rural diversity: do you have indoor plumbing? Uniqueness of regional crafts does little to motivate policies Civic culture in rural America not visible Rural areas are places of diversity.

31. Offers the public a compelling vision of what stronger rural communities would look like in the contemporary context Foregrounds new successful small businesses on Main Street Explains the systems at work: agribusiness, Wal-Mart Connects rural America to urban and suburban America Rural areas are untapped assets.

32. Refining the Reframes Results from the Focus Groups

33. Structure of Focus Groups • Collaging symbols (dominant frames) • Probe for past speculative reframes • Problems discussion • Solutions, responsibility probe • Vision of future • Policies discussion (importance for rural areas, nation, future) • 6 frames: 2 dominant frames plus 4 new speculative reframes as news articles • Revisit policies • What are rural issues/areas about?

34. Top of Mind Issues • Economy • Education • Opportunity (to get out) • Farm consolidation • Transportation • Health care • All problems, no solutions • Responsibility is on rural residents to fix these problems

35. Reactions to Inserted Issues • Economic development important, robust conversation, must be done with respect and participation of rural residents • Internet connections a no-brainer • Helping farmers switch to organic farming is about health, not economics • Living wages are about migrant workers • Child care is not a problem (farm frame)

36. Six Focus Group Reframes • In the Path of Progress: Preserving Yorkville (dominant frame of museum mindset/inevitability) • Rural Poverty (dominant frame of problem/deficits) • Innovation in the Heartland (innovation/ingenuity, diversity, help from outside) • We are All Connected – Boundaries Blend Between Rural and Urban Areas (systems) • Outside Forces Breaking the Small Town Economy (cause and effect) • Restoring Main Street (vitality, cause and effect)

37. Like small towns everywhere, Yorkville is struggling with how to adjust to progress. People who live in the area have mixed views on the new housing developments sprouting up. “It’s some of the greatest land in the world,k and it’s gone forever..We’ll look just like every other shopping mall in America,” says Frank Ahrens. “There is going to be growth. We need to try to make it happen the way we want it to, a balanced approach,” says city administrator. “Life is hard everywhere, but especially for rural people,” says resident. Currently the town council and state legislature are debating options to preserve Yorkville’s small town character, including zoning restrictions, grants for historic preservation of buildings, and tax subsidies for small businesses. Familiar story/script People in rural areas conflicted over future Progress is inevitable Focuses attention on rural as place not people Sets up museum mindset Keep it quaint so I can retire there Gets us nowhere In the Path of Progress:Preserving Yorkville

38. Lack of opportunities has led to entrenched poverty in many areas. “You’ve got counties where there are no jobs and the income is below poverty level, so you have groups trafficking in drugs who take advantage of that, and you have local sheriffs and small-town police chiefs who have limited resources,” said Sam Brown, a local law enforcement officer. Poverty, matched with isolation, has created other problems as well. Health care and an opportunity for a college education are non-existent in many rural areas. Rev. Zach Wear seeks to improve conditions. “We need to invest in developing a rural economy that prevents health problems. Housing, transportation, work environment – these are as important to rural health as hospitals. A coalition of community leaders is headed to the state capitol to request funding for infrastructure development and regional planning grants. Familiar story Have heard crime is a problem in rural areas Like the idea of prevention Don’t know what to do with this story Gets us nowhere on policies Rural Poverty

39. In the midst of serene landscapes and small towns where everybody knows everyone’s name, there is a new, innovative rural America that is emerging. There is a new type of barn-raising occurring in Springfield, a town of less than 15,k000 residents. This past week more than 100 residents came together to crate a computer center in the local middle school. “People think of farms when they think of rural places,” explained Ann Wilson, a spokesperson with the Alliance for Technology Access. “But farming only employs a small percentage of people. Many rural areas actually have more self-employed people than urban areas and they rely upon the success of small businesses that funnel resources back into the community. At this computer center, we’ll be providing training and resources that will help small businesses thrive and train our young people for jobs that won’t require them to move away to other states.” State Senator Carl Morgan said, “Legislatures need to look at rural areas in a new way, and work with them to bring the education and jobs here that they need to thrive.” Mixed performance See technology as a way to improve education and opportunity BUT allows kids to get jobs in other places Reinforces rural people as backwards Challenged to extend advantage beyond school to whole community Why should my money go to those places? (zero sum mentality with product) Might perform better if less about innovation and more about empowerment, taking charge of own destiny Innovation in the Heartland

40. All the nation’s geographic regions, urban, suburban and rural, are connected in ways less obvious than the national highway system. Increasingly it is becoming obvious to social and environmental scientists, urban planners and legislators that, if one part of the system breaks down, it affects us all. Small rural communities form the base of the national supply chain.But new trade agreements have erased quotas and tariffs that long insulated United States industries from foreign competition. For these already-struggling communities, the first post-globalization recession may erase any hopes of long-term survival. We are connected in some surprising ways as well. Pollution in rural areas is severe, not because of urban industry, but because farmssend fertilizer and animal wastes into the groundwater and into rivers. Across the country, metropolitan water agencies are battling increasing pollution from the countryside.The farm bill is now being scrutinized by members of Congress from urban and suburban districts who realize that these upheavals in agriculture have implications beyond the grocery store. Connection is an important reframing element Reminds people that we rely on rural areas Foreign trade reminded people of disappearing manufacturing jobs (same issue, different locale) Environmental story was new and surprising: opportunity BUT didn’t reinforce connection in way intended (negative connection) We’re All Connected: Boundaries Blend Between Rural and Urban Areas

41. Family farms in America are disappearing at a rapid rate and taking small towns with them, due in large part to federal policies that benefit corporate farming at the expense of family-run enterprises. Rice farms in the Mississippi Delta are just one example of a national trend that is occurring in all parts of the country. This region, whose farmers have helped make the United States the world's third-largest rice exporter behind Thailand and Vietnam, offers one of the starkest examples of the unintended consequences of the federal farm subsidy program. The subsidies have been lopsided. The top 1 percent of farmers and farm groups in the federally defined Mississippi Delta region receive 26 percent of the subsidies, or $1.9 billion. The bottom 80 percent receive only 9 percent, or $686 million. What is needed, according to Senator Lincoln, is an overhaul of agriculture policy that will allow family-owned properties to thrive once again, which will reinvigorate the economy of surrounding towns. Educates people that farm policy is not just about economies of scale Unfair to advantage agribusiness Don’t want to lodge control in few (gets at diversity) Moves from American Heritage frame to David v. Goliath May benefit from expansion to other examples of impact of agribusiness and consolidation, e.g. food quality, pollution Outside Forces Breaking Small Town Economy

42. There is a vitality to Circleville these days, that hasn’t been seen in decades. After years of planning, residents’ vision has finally been achieved – a vibrant town with economically secure residents who plan on staying. The decline of family farms and ranches was followed by encroaching urban life. City residents seeking a rural lifestyle came to the area, bringing with them a higher cost of living and the large national retailers found in the suburbs. “We watched one shop after another close as new residents chose to shop in the strip malls outside town,” said long-time resident Helen Otis. “Before you knew it, good jobs were harder to find, because all the services that relied on agriculture incomes left town – shops, banks, dentists, doctors. “We could either decide that the changes we were seeing were inevitable,” explained Joe Davis, of the Rural Development Initiative, “or we could get together to figure out how to rebuild our town. Ten years ago, county residents put together a task force to understand the outside forces that had damaged the town’s economy and put in place the changes that would repair the damage. The town’s plan called for zoning restrictions, tax credits for small business owners, tuition repayment programs for doctors and dentists who move to Circleville. Refutes the preconceived idea that rural towns have to disappear Empowers rural residents Positions outside help as respectful, invited because locally managed Puts all the responsibility on local areas (not my problem) Needs to do better job of setting up state or federal role Restoring Main Street

43. Elements of a Successful Reframe for Rural Issues • Reinforce a sense of connection that is based on mutual well-being, not just nice memories of childhood or a vacation • Explain a cause for the problem that is manageable and fixable -- economic policy, farm policy, etc. • Make the solution prominent and show that it can be done • Create a role for rural people as well as citizens generally in the solution • Formula works well for economic development, trade, farm policy • Works less well for education and health, where default moves toward deficits, charity and backwardness

46. More Systems, More Cause and Effect, More Solutions All the nation’s regions -- urban, suburban and rural -- are connected. Keeping the nation in good working order means paying attention to all parts of the country. For example, rural places are central to the nation's economic well being because we rely on rural areas for energy, agriculture, timber, mining, and raw materials. But recent decisions concerning foreign trade are affecting the long-term stability of rural areas and with it our resources. New trade agreements have eliminated quotas and tariffs that protected United States industries from foreign competition. With those protections gone, small towns are teetering in the recession and may not recover. Solutions include….As a nation, we cannot afford to neglect our rural communities.

47. www.frameworksinstitute.org www.eworkshop.frameworksinstitute.org enrollment code: m626kx