How to (Not) Talk
About Poverty
Margy Waller
Presentation for The Mobility Agenda Roundtable
January, 2007
About this Presentation
•Prepared by Margy Waller for The Mobility
Agenda, January, 2007.
•This PowerPoint is based on a presentation created
with Shawn Fremstad and Rachel Gragg.
•For additional information contact Margy at:
margywaller@mac.com.
About this Presentation
Much of the material for this presentation is derived from important
research by the following organizations and projects:
•
The FrameWorks Institute
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/
• Public Knowledge, LLC – Meg Bostrom
• Public Works: the Dēmos Center for the Public Sector
http://www.demos.org/page76.cfm
• For An Economy That Works For All
http://www.economythatworks.org/
This body of work offers new insight into how the public perceives
and thinks about social issues; and specifically about government,
poverty, and the economy. It suggests the need for a careful
examination and reorientation of the way we communicate about
these issues if we are to be effective.
About this Presentation
Publications on Frames and Framing from the
Frameworks Institute
o Strategic Frame Analysis
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/strategicanalysis/perspective.shtml
o Framing Public Issues
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/strategicanalysis/FramingPublicIssuesfinal.pdf
o E-zine #8: A Five Minute Refresher Course on Framing
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/products/issue8framing.shtml
About this Presentation
Sources on Poverty & the Economy
o Achieving the American Dream: A Meta-Analysis of Public
Opinion Concerning Poverty, Upward Mobility and Related
Issues, Meg Bostrom
http://www.economythatworks.org/PDFs/Achieving%20the%20
American%20Dream.pdf
o Together for Success: Communicating Low-Wage Work as
Economy Not Poverty, Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge
http://www.economythatworks.org/PDFs/Together%20for%20S
uccess2.pdf
o FrameWorks Institute E-zine #5: Child Poverty
http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/products/issue5poverty.sht
ml
About this Presentation
Sources on the Role of Government
o Public Works: the Dēmos Center for the Public Sector
http://www.demos.org/page76.cfm
o Public Works briefing papers on the “How to Talk about
Government” research
http://www.demos-usa.org/page377.cfm
o By, or For the People? A Meta-Analysis of Public Opinion of
Government, Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge
http://www.demos.org/pubs/ByOrForthePeople20050426.pdf
Our Policy Goals
Our proposals recognize:
• systemic forces limit opportunity;
• the fundamental causes of poverty
are economic and structural,
not moral or individual;
• the economy can—and should—be influenced to
work better for all people; and
• government policy can address these problems.
Core American Beliefs…
… About Poverty & Opportunity
• Each individual is responsible for his or
her own success or failure;
• With hard work comes reward;
• The goal is equal opportunity, not equal
outcome; and
• Anyone can achieve the
“American Dream.”
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Dominant Frames…
… About Poverty
• Poverty is an individual—not a
systemic—problem.
• People are poor because of bad choices, moral
weakness, or character flaws.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
… About Poverty
“The new paradigm is of behavior-driven poverty
that results from individuals' nonmaterial deficits.
It results from a scarcity of certain habits and
mores—punctuality, hygiene, industriousness,
deferral of gratification, etc.—that are not
developed in disorganized homes.”
—George F. Will, Washington Post, 3/5/06
… About the Economy
• A force of nature, beyond anyone’s control.
• “Free market” model, should be
unconstrained and free of government
intervention.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
… About Government
• Largely incompetent;
• Not the solution to poverty – not the right
place, couldn’t do it anyway; and
• Government solutions seen as intervening
inappropriately in business or as providing
charity.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge, For an Economy that Works for All, and Public Works
Individuals vs. The System
It isn’t that Americans are unsympathetic, or
don’t care about poor individuals. Put a poor
family in front of a congregation or in the New
York Times Neediest Cases series, and checks
will be written. But many people see that
family as “unique,” and don’t translate the
circumstances of that one family to systemic
causes.
Role of the Media
• News coverage of low-wage work reinforces core
beliefs;
• Most news stories adopt a sympathetic individual
frame (routinely failing to connect individual
stories to the economy);
• Fully 1/3 of stories position the
government as incompetent.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Facing the Facts
We must navigate these core beliefs and the
dominant frames through which the public views
poverty and economic issues when we talk about
poverty and the policies we support.
We need to do better at starting with values and
beliefs that support collective action to combat
poverty in order to avoid triggering the negative
frames that get in the way.
Why This Matters
Framing 101
“Every frame defines the
issue, explains who is
responsible, and suggests
potential solutions. All of
these are conveyed by
images, stereotypes, or
anecdotes."
Source: Ryan, Charlotte. Prime Time Activism: Media Strategies for Grass Roots
Organizing. Boston: South End Press.
Framing 101:
How We Process Information
• Use mental shortcuts – frames – to make sense of
the world, to process information quickly.
• Rely upon cues within new information to connect
it with ideas and beliefs already stored.
• Draw conclusions from the news article’s
accompanying photo or headline.
Source: The FrameWorks Institute
Framing 101
• How we talk about an issue helps people
decide what mental box to put it in.
• When we talk about poverty (or worse,
“welfare”)—no matter what we say or how
compelling our “facts”—it goes into a box
that most people associate with negative
stereotypes.
Source: The FrameWorks Institute
Framing 101
• 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, the facts are
rejected, not the frame.
Source: The FrameWorks Institute
People Need Value Cues
• Level One: Big ideas: JUSTICE, PREVENTION,
FAMILY, EQUALITY, OPPORTUNITY
• Level Two: Issue-types: WOMEN’S RIGHTS, THE
ENVIRONMENT, CHILDREN’S ISSUES, WORK
• Level Three: Specific issues: PAY EQUITY, EITC,
SCHIP PRESUMPTIVE ELIGIBILITY
© 2006 – Frameworks Institute
Questions
• Should we approach our work differently, given
this understanding of framing and what we know
about many people’s core beliefs?
• If we are honest, we have to admit our current
efforts are failing.
• If the public cannot hear us now because our
message contradicts their fundamental
beliefs, how should we change our
communication?
What Social Conservatives Have Done
Social conservatives frame issues of
poverty in ways that align with existing
beliefs:
• Personal responsibility;
• Just get a job and the economy will work for
you; and
• Government isn’t the solution.
Margy’s Failed Strategies
•
•
•
•
•
•
No frame, no mental short-cut or organizing principle, or
ineffective one.
Focusing first or exclusively on individuals.
Presenting problems as calamitous and unsolvable.
Over-reliance on data as tools of persuasion, especially
as uninterpreted descriptors.
Under-reliance on values to prime perspective or a
limited set of values (sympathy, charity, disparity, crisis).
Insufficient emphasis on problem-solving and solutions,
or too little too late.
Source: The FrameWorks Institute
Some Answers
We must promote our policy
goals within frames that tap into
positive beliefs, where they can
be seen, and not dismissed.
Some Answers
Public beliefs that work for our goals:
• Hard work should be valued and rewarded;
• Working people are struggling;
• The country needs to act to impact the economy;
and
• There are things the government can do to
improve economic outcomes.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Some Answers
• Change the frame from “sympathy” for the
poor to the economy and jobs
• Collective, not individual, responsibility
• Focus on solutions, not problems
• Don’t make the story about an individual
• It’s not a crisis, it’s manageable
• It’s not about them, but about all of us
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Sympathy Frame
Sympathy: In a weak economy, the
working poor have to take any job they
can get.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Economic & Community Frames
Economic: The nation is relying too heavily on
low-wage service sector jobs from national
companies without insisting that they pay workers
good wages or benefits.
Community: Communities are relying too
heavily on low-wage service sector jobs that
national companies bring into an area without
insisting that the national companies invest back
into the community by paying workers good
wages and benefits.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Responses to the Frames
• Some demographic groups respond only to the
economic frame, and not the sympathy or
community frames: voters who self-identify as
working-class, non college-educated men, and
older men.
• Other groups respond to both economic and
community frames: Republican voters, union
households, and older voters without a college
education.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Economic Frame:
Perceptions and Policy Support
• Working class voters move away from the belief that
the middle class is as attainable as ever;
• Increases the belief that it is possible to affect the
economy;
• Decreases support for broad-based tax cuts as the
preferred way to stimulate the economy; and
• Increases policy support for economic policy goals,
like paid sick days.
Source: Meg Bostrom, Public Knowledge and For an Economy that Works for All
Some Answers:
A New Frame
Frame From
Frame To
Poverty
Individuals
Moral health/disease
Fixing people
Punishing laziness
Some have more/less
Making people equal
Causes
Failures
Economics
Places, conditions, systems
A healthy economy
Fixing systems
Rewarding work
Works for everyone
Making opportunities equal
Solutions
Successes
Source: The FrameWorks Institute
Important to Remember
• This approach is a communications strategy;
• It is not a persuasion model;
• Using this model does not require that we change our values,
goals, or policy agenda; and
• It is hard to change the way we talk about poverty.
For More Information
New Voices in Public Debate
www.inclusionist.org
Toward a New Framing for the Poverty Debate
http://inclusionist.org/node/77
Contacts
Margy Waller margywaller@mac.com
202-339-9372
Shawn Fremstad fremstad@mac.com
202-470-0178
Rachel Gragg rgragg@mindspring.com
202-339-9332