Collective Action Frame and Social Movement Activities in Moscow

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in local initiative groups activities that are engaged in solving various problems in the urban environment. The escalating conflict between the authorities and society fostered by a number of contradictory decisions of the municipal administration renders it possible that eventually the purely pragmatic agenda of the local social movements will be politicized. The mobilization potential of the local social movements is influenced by many factors, including communication patterns which the movements leaders employ to convey their goals and values to the public by constructing collective action frames. The more resonant a collective action frame is and the more aligned it is with individual frames of citizens, the more likely it will lead to mobilization. However, it is still unclear to what extent the frames of movements and its participants are aligned and whether they contain the elements of politicization. To find that out, we conducted a two-step empirical research. A qualitative content analysis of program documents of the Moscow social movements was carried out to define their collective action frames. Then, using an online survey, we developed individual frames of participants of the sampled social organizations. Finally, a comparative analysis of the derived frames was used to measure the extent of their alignment. Based on the empirical data several conclusions were drawn: the sampled social movements do not contain political demands in their agenda, while the activists do have orientation on politicization. The degree of frame alignment is rather high, therefore in case of politicization of the organizational agenda the activists will be willing to mobilize and perform collective actions under braver slogans.