The Art of Political Framing: How Politicians Convince Us That They Are Right

by Hans de Bruijn

Politicians employ a wide range of strategies to achieve their goals - and language is one of them. What impact does their language have on us, on their opponents, on the public opinion?

If language matters, then the interesting question naturally arises how politicians use language to their advantage? How do they use it to convince us of the truth of their views? These questions take us into the world of political framing, which has attracted a lot of attention in recent times and forms the subject of this book.

Framing is obviously not a new phenomenon, nor is it the preserve of right-wing politicians, as is sometimes suggested. The author discusses both old and new examples of framing, as well as various left and right-wing frames. The examples presented in this book have been carefully selected, in the hope that they will not only help you understand the game of framing and reframing but also show you how much impact you can have by using the right words.

144 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2019

Reviews

[Sander Pasterkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qua inhoud is dit een van de beste boeken die ik ooit heb opengeslagen, dit is een beetje subjectief want ik had sowieso al interesse in dit onderwerp. Het valt wel te merken dat het geschreven is door een academicus, vanwege het taalgebruik en de mini-figuurtjes die zo op het schoolbord passen

Dit boek schrijft compact op wat je als "toeschouwer" heel veel ziet in de politiek, en mogelijk zelfs in je eigen leven. Er staat gewoon woord te veel of te weinig in, misschien zelfs waard om twee keer te lezen als je dit in de praktijk nodig hebt. Het ontwijkende gedrag van politici, de tactieken die je kan gebruiken en bovenal een rijke verzameling voorbeelden maakt dit een sterk theoretisch kader. Topspul!

[Caesar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot! A great and short book. (The editor, however, could have put more effort into it and activated a simple spellchecker!)

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot - great theory and great examples. Recommended by Cecilia as the result of a discussion about why the left is struggling to reach it's voters across Europe and the US.

Framing is the process of organizing reality into a specific structure to influence how others perceive it. It's goal is to define the "dominant meaning" of an issue, making one particular interpretation seem natural and appropriate, while discouraging others.

The author introduces the 3P Model early on, wherein you can frame an issue through policy, principal or personal experience. Policy is more logic based, and the other two are more emotion-based, but all three are very important and effective.
The rest of the book is mainly examples on how to play with these approaches depending on what framing your opponent is using.

I also found the "Villains, Victims, and Heroes" framing interesting, where in each narrative we kin of assign these roles to actors or different parts of the narrative - to bring the listener/audience along with rooting for some and against others.

[Lisanne Vaatstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a lecture from de Bruijn in which he explained several examples of framing and reframing I became Interested in the topic and decided to buy his book. The book goes into the theory of framing and reframing and presents examples from well-known politicians which adds to the theoretical part since it makes it more understandable and makes the book more interesting to read.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, strong book, well written. Many good examples. Tip: you can watch most examples also on YouTube

[G K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this whole shitting thingbtoday for an essay but was surprisingly delightful

[David Moolenaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author makes use of real life examples to demonstrate the most common used framing strategies and teaches how to divert them.