New Life for an Old Concept: Frame Analysis and the Reinvigoration of Studies in Culture and Poverty

Erving Goffman’s attention to the concept of framing provided modern sociology with a critical means for expanding explorations of the cultural terrain of meaning-making. Frame analysis concerns the manner in which individuals perceive and respond to particular events and circumstances. Since Goffman’s introduction of the term, the concept of framing has been expanded considerably in sociological inquiry. What Goffman and many of his adherents may not have imagined, however, is that frame analysis serves as a useful tool for improved comprehension of how low-income individuals interpret and present images of their social reality. By drawing from literature that makes use of frame analysis in sociological subfields somewhat removed from research on race and poverty and incorporating data from low-income African American men who reside in Detroit, this article explores how these concepts can enrich and advance sociologically grounded cultural inquiry into poverty and argues that scholarly approaches to considering the agency of the poor can be revised and enriched.