Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States

by Myra Marx Ferree , William Anthony Gamson , Jürgen Gerhards , Dieter Rucht

• ISBN13: 9780521793841
• ISBN10: 052179384X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Using controversy over abortion as a lens through which to compare the political process and role of the media in these two very different democracies, this book examines the contest over meaning that is being waged by social movements, political parties, churches and other social actors. Abortion is a critical battleground for debates over social values in Germany and the U.S., but the constitutional premises on which arguments rest differ, as do the strategies that movements and parties adopt and the opportunities for influence that are open to them.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	ix
Foreword	xi
Friedhelm Neidhardt
Preface	xv
Glossary	xix
Part I: Introduction
Two Related Stories	3	(21)
Historical Context	24	(21)
Methods	45	(16)
Part II: Major Outcomes
The Discursive Opportunity Structure	61	(25)
Standing	86	(19)
Framing	105	(26)
Part III: Representing Different Constituencies
Representing Women's Claims	131	(23)
Representing Religious Claims	154	(25)
Representing the Tradition of the Left	179	(26)
Part IV: The Quality of Abortion Discourse
Normative Criteria for the Public Sphere	205	(27)
Measuring the Quality of Discourse	232	(23)
Metatalk	255	(31)
Lessons for Democracy and the Public Sphere	286	(19)
Methodological Appendix	305	(20)
References	325	(14)
Index	339