ABSTRACT

The purpose of this final chapter is to draw together some of the more prominent themes and perspectives that have emerged in the book. To that end, it is probably apt to begin by looking at what is arguably the single biggest aim of any kind of protest, namely to bring about positive social change in the face of perceived wrongs or injustices. Indeed, in Chapter 2, we saw how Turner and Killian (1987 [1957]) believe a sense of injustice is central to all social movement activity. Similarly, scholars writing from the framing perspective argue that diagnosing problems and attributing blame are key framing tasks involving the articulation of ‘injustice frames’, which ‘call attention to the ways in which movements identify the “victims” of a given injustice and amplify their victimization’ (Benford and Snow 2000: 615). Hence, William Gamson (1992: 68, original emphasis) has said that all ‘collective action frames are injustice frames’.