Framing Globalization:
The Battle for Definitions of a Contested Issue
Peer C. Fiss and Paul M.
Hirsch
Abstract
"Globalization" is a contested term that
has quickly moved to the center of discourse addressing power and
political culture in the developing world economy. As the recent
(1999) demonstrations at the World Trade Organization conference
in Seattle showed, the term is now part of a larger contest over
boundaries and acceptable limits in the ongoing social construction
of a reconstituted world economic system. The outcome of this contest,
over which discourses and symbols succeed in blocking or legitimating
the meanings accorded the term "globalization," will profoundly
influence the restructuring of the global economy. This has clear
implications for this year's American Sociological Association theme
of domination and liberation in the 21st century.
This paper traces the rise and developing uses of the term "globalization"
in public discourse since it first appeared in the mid-1980s. Computer-assisted
text analysis is used to show how the term has been used and portrayed
in two media-related datasets: press releases from organizations
seeking publicity or support for their use and interpretation of
the term; and changing coverage by three major newspapers: The
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. The
study links the claims made by organizational and governmental actors
about the nature of globalization with the presentation of these
issues in the news media. The interpretations accorded, and different
utilizations of the term "globalization" are followed
and shown from the begin-nings of this "discourse contest"
in the mid-1980s through 1998.
Peer C. Fiss, Graduate
student, Department of Sociology Paul M. Hirsch, Kellogg Graduate School of Management
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