Contentious and controversial policy issues: Using frame analysis to expose and resolve the intractability of the GRA debate

In an increasingly polarised political sphere, urgent research is required to understand contentious and seemingly irreconcilable policy debates, to seek ways to move beyond intractability and work towards policy compromise. This is the case for highly topical debates over sex and gender, which is creating persistent political controversy and conflict within progressive social justice movements.

My PhD research would examine policy frames, and the process of framing by governments and social movements. I would seek to understand how and why actors use framing, how governments respond to external frames and construct their own in the creation of policy, and how these processes cause polarisation and intractability of complex social problems. I am also interested in how the process of framing relates to competing knowledge and contested definitions of concepts; to what extent frames are based on subjective knowledge, or to what extent frames work to construct this knowledge. Using frame analysis, I would conduct a comparative study on the Scottish and UK governments' handling of proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). The polarisation of this topical and controversial issue means that it is an extremely interesting case study for analysis of framing, competing knowledge, and contentious policy.

This PhD research would build upon initial analysis from my undergraduate dissertation, in which I used frame analysis to study three organisational responses to the Scottish Government 2017 consultation on GRA reform. Further research on this issue would apply more in-depth and sophisticated methodology to widen the scope of the analysis.