Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Not So Revolutionary After All: The Role Of Reinforcing Frames In Us Magazine Discourse About Microcomputers, Jean P. Kelly

Communications Faculty Scholarship

This study investigates the role of media discourse in the hegemonic process by which the microcomputer became a common and trusted appliance in the USA during the early years of the technology's adoption: the 1980s to 1990s. A critical discourse analysis combined with framing analysis of four cases from consumer magazines — two advertisements and two editorial feature stories — reveals that a device heralded as 'revolutionary' was presented in fact using rhetoric that incorporated and legitimized traditional values, roles and practices such as capitalism. Any frames that potentially challenged existing social structures and power relationships were secondary and 'super-framed' …