Discursive deadlock and the social (media) life of frames

Fisher, Sarah 2025. Discursive deadlock and the social (media) life of frames. THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Disputes over complex social and political issues frequently reveal themselves in the use of contrasting frames. A policy on restricting gun ownership may be characterised by one side as “improving public safety” and by the other side as “curtailing individual rights”; one group may frame the construction of new homes on the greenbelt as “increasing the housing supply” while their opponents characterise it as “damaging the environment”; and so on. In recent work, J. L. Bermúdez argues that these kinds of alternative frames put agents in touch with distinct – and potentially conflicting – reasons for judgement and action. He diagnoses many cases of discursive deadlock as clashes of frames and he prescribes to agents a course of epistemic due diligence, whereby they adopt multiple alternative frames. In this paper, I argue that the analysis, while valuable, is importantly incomplete. Frames not only elucidate reasons but signal identities and affiliations—and that calls instead for structural changes to discursive environments.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
ISSN:	2171-679X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 December 2025
Date of Acceptance:	28 November 2025
Last Modified:	04 Dec 2025 14:57
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182743

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