Socio-Scientific Fundamentals

Sensemaking of an Emerging Concept

While the literature on framing has importantly expanded our understanding of frame

creation and contests from an interpretive point of view, previous studies have largely

neglected the structural contexts in which framing activities occur. In this study, we

propose extending the framing approach by incorporating insights from the literature on

sensemaking to examine how and when opportunities for meaning creation open up and

how this affects subsequent discursive processes. Connecting framing and sensemaking

better enables us to examine how structural factors prompt and bound discursive

processes, affecting when and where frame contests emerge. We demonstrate the utility of

this approach by examining changes in the discourse of globalization. Using qualitative

and quantitative analyses of newspaper articles and corporate press releases, we trace

the emergence of globalization discourse, its diffusion, and the increasing contention

that surrounds it. Our findings show how and where globalization discourse emerged in

response to greater U.S. involvement with the international economy, and how later

frame contests over the meaning of globalization have depended on the interests of the

actors involved.

H

ow major events are constructed in public

discourse continues to be a topic of inter-

est across disciplines. Particularly large-scale

transformations such as industrialization, the

Direct correspondence to Peer C. Fiss, Queen's

School of Business, 143 Union Street, Kingston,

Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 (fiss@business.queen-

su.ca), or Paul M. Hirsch, Department of

Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of

Management, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL

60208 (paulhirsch@northwestem.edu). The authors

thank Wayne Baker, Marcus Britton, Bruce

Camithers, Peter DeWan, Gary Alan Fine, Georgi

Derluguian, Steven Hoffman. Mark Jacobs, Mark

Kennedy, Rodney Lacey, Ryon Lancaster, Amit

Nigam, Ann Shola Orloff, Joseph Porae, Charles

Ragin. Art Stinchcombe, Marc Ventresca, Lihua

Wang, Christopher Winship, Edward Zajae, Mark

Zimny, and the ASR editors and anonymous review-

ers for their comments and suggestions. Special

appreciation goes to deputy editor Myra Marx Ferree

for her insight and guidance. An earlier version of this

paper was presented at the American Sociologica!

Association's Annual Meetings in Washington, D.C.,

August 2000.

emergence of capitalism, democratization, or

globalization are marked by discursive