How shall we reframe "the ownership society"?

Susan C. Strong, Ph.D.

This article was distributed by email to the membership of The Metaphor Project email list. It is reproduced at greaterdemocracy.org by the kind consent of Susan C. Strong, Ph.D.

On Monday someone suggested to me that we should reframe the Bush administration's phrase, "the ownership society," right away. I had been thinking about it myself and have already received one concrete suggestion.  But the nature of that suggestion made me realize we need a much more thoughtful process if we are going to come up with successful reframes.

So I invite you to join me in trying to reframe "the ownership society" in the most effective way possible. Here is the process I suggest we  follow. 

1.ANALYZE THE TARGET FRAME'S STORY AND THE VALUES THAT STORY CARRIES.  NOTICE HOW THAT STORY FITS THE AMERICAN STORY, BOTH COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL, AND THE SPECIFIC WAYS IT MAY BE DECEPTIVE.

For example, we notice that "the ownership society" is a very smart frame because it taps one of the deepest personal dreams of Americans-to own something big themselves, usually a house or a business of their own. We also notice that this Bush soundbite is a deceptive tactic when linked to individual Social Security investment accounts, because it does not tell the truth about its real objective, which is the destruction of the Social Security system.

2.DECIDE WHO THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR REFRAME IS, AND WHAT MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION WILL ACTUALLY REACH THAT AUDIENCE.

So are we trying to talk to our base?  the radical right neocons? the religious right? unhappy moderate Republican Congressmembers? The three percent of swing voters who didn't vote for Kerry? (assuming accurate vote counting, which I don't, but my job is message training.)  For the sake of this example, I'd say we're trying to reach the three percent and unhappy moderate Republican Congressmembers at the very least. I'll leave to others whose expertise is media marketing the question of which channels of communication in today's increasingly monopolistic media system will reach these audiences. (Suggestion anyone?)

 3.CONSIDER WHETHER JUST GOING NEGATIVE OR PICKING A RADICAL OPPOSITE TO THE TARGET REFRAME WILL REALLY HELP US ACHIEVE OUR OBJECTIVE, WHICH IS TO RAISE DOUBTS AND GET PEOPLE THINKING MORE DEEPLY. ANALYZE THE TARGET SOUNDBITE FOR ITS REAL "ACHILLES HEEL," AND "RAP" ON IT FOR A WHILE WITH FRIENDS OR COLLEAGUES, UNTIL YOU GET ALL THE LANGUAGE, ASSOCIATIONS, AND WORD PICTURES THAT FIT.

Say we started out thinking that a phrase like the following would be good: "the poorhouse society." Is there really such a thing as the "poorhouse" in contemporary America? The modern equivalent of the poorhouse is being homeless on the streets. But can you effectively counter the lure of the American dream of ownership with a slogan that threatens everyone with ending up on the streets? Who will believe you?  No one really believes that THEY will end up on the street.

So what is the real Achilles' heel of the "ownership society" frame re Social Security? I'd say it's that the percent of Social Security tax a person might be able to invest themselves has two big vulnerabilities: risky investments in a risky economic market. That level of risk threatens loss of a secure pension for the individual investing. Notice that the words "secure pension fund" or "safe retirement fund" have a very different ring than "poorhouse" or even "the streets" or "homeless." NOW WE ARE TALKING THE LANGUAGE OF THE MAINSTREAM. Everyone wants to have a SAFE PENSION FUND, or a FALLBACK PENSION FUND. We've seen already that stock bubbles burst and corporate pension funds fail, through bankruptcyor graft. So it really is UNWISE, IMPRUDENT, and IRRESPONSIBLE to hollow out OUR NATIONAL PUBLIC "TRUST FUND," by SIPHONING FUNDS AWAY from it, isn't it? IT'S RISKY, IT'S GAMBLING, IT'S FOOLISH, IT'S DANGEROUS, IT THREATENS OUR FUTURE AS A NATION BECAUSE, AFTER ALL, WE REALLY ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER --WE ALREADY HAVE TOO MANY PEOPLE FALLING INTO HOMELESSNESS AND BECOMING AN EXPENSIVE PROBLEM FOR CITIES.  WE NEED TO KEEP THE PLAYING FIELD LEVEL FOR AGING RETIREES OF ALL KINDS. {ALSO, THE HOMELESS DO NOT SHOP OR SPEND MONEY AT THE MALL} Notice here that we don't require people to believe they will be homeless themselves, but that it will cost them locally if the number of homeless grow.

But the Bushies have also justified individual Social Security investment accounts on the grounds that the Social Security system will run out of money unless we do something.  We know there is considerable debate about whether this, but withdrawing money from it via individual investment accounts is a sure way to make it fail. (For more on this topic, see Paul Krugman's "Inventing a Crisis," The New York Times, 12/07/04.) IF THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM NEEDS A FIX, IT NEEDS ONE THAT WILL REALLY WORK-- A REAL FIX, NOT A DIRTY TRICKS FIX.

So much for the negative analysis and counter framing. But we aren't finished yet, because "the ownership society" frame promises a lot more than a mere Social Security fix. This leads to the next step in our process:

4.BE SURE TO ADDRESS THE POSITIVE ASPECTS OF THE DECEPTIVE FRAME WITH YOUR OWN POSITIVE "AMERICAN STORY" FRAME.

Now we have to face the fact that the "ownership society" doesn't SEEM to really be about Social Security at all. It is much grander than that, and  sets a big hopeful objective that is almost synonymous with the American Dream itself. For best results, we ought to have more than one soundbite ourselves--one that deals with the real thrust of their soundbite, what it covers up, but also one that sets out OUR version of the American Dream. We need to counter their soundbite both at the level it seems to be at and at the level it actually targets something we value. A really brilliant reframe might be able to do both at once, but for right now, two is a good goal. In this case, a positive counterframe might be something: "The Fair Deal Society, or "The Equal Opportunity  Society." For more ideas, review the elements of the American Story and the American Metaphor Categories List at www.metaphorproject.org to get ideas. Also see the new list of core Democratic values at http://democraticleader.house.gov/press/releases

( See   www.metaphorproject.org for more details on the shared American story and the values it carries.)

6. Check your results for RHYTHM, CONCRETENESS, SIMPLICITY, FAMILIARITY OF REFERENCE, and ABILITY TO STIMULATE THINKING.

6. Then send your reframes, both positive and negative, to me and I'll send out a digest of the best results!

Happy holidays,

Susan C. Strong, Ph.D.www.metaphorproject.org

Posted by Jon Lebkowsky at December 22, 2004 5:49 AM | TrackBack