BLM_Concept_Map

1.

1
2
redefines goals and leadership of
Historical Foundations
Transformation of
Protest Tactics
CL
BF
RC
RI
CA
DA
DL
CN
SM
HA
Civil Rights Legacy
Black Freedom
Struggle
Reagan Era
Conservatism
Unresolved Racial
Inequality
Continuity of
Activism
Digital Activism
Decentralized
Leadership
Connective Action
Social Media
Mobilization
Hashtag Activism
African American activism
preserved collective resistance
and continued demands for
racial justice.
Conservative politics and
neoliberal reforms created new
social and economic
challenges for Black
communities.
Economic inequality, police
violence, and mass
incarceration remained central
political issues.
Post-Civil Rights activism
evolved rather than
disappeared in modern
America.
The Civil Rights
Movement established
legal equality and mass
mobilization traditions that
shaped later protest
movements.
Social media platforms
increased protest visibility
and expanded online
political participation.
Digital networks accelerate
rapid mobilization and
activist coordination.
Modern protest movements
rely on collective and
horizontal leadership
structures.
facilitates global
diffusion of
expands
beyond
national
boundaries
emerges from
historical legacy of
3. Identity & Intersectionality
transforms through
4. Repression & State Response
Black Feminism
Bf
Police Violence
Black feminist perspectives expanded protest goals beyond race alone.
Pv
LGBTQ Inclusion
Surveillance, arrests, and crowd control shaped protest environments.
The Black Lives
Matter Movement
Lq
Pr
Intersectionality
Threat Perception
Race, gender, class, and sexuality became interconnected dimensions of protest
politics.
& Its Role in Shaping
Racial Justice
Politics
develops in response to
Tp
shapes public
understanding of
(2013–Present)
Youth Activism
Black protest movements were often framed as socially disruptive or dangerous.
Protest Policing
Young activists challenged traditional leadership and institutional politics.
Institutional responses influenced protest tactics and activist adaptation.
Ya
Pp
Radical Healing
Rh
Police brutality became a central trigger for protest mobilization.
Protest Repression
Modern activism increasingly includes queer and marginalized identities.
In
Hashtags such as
#BlackLivesMatter and
#SayHerName became
symbols of digital resistance.
Online communication
connects activists,
communities, and global
audiences.
Violence Against Protestors
Contemporary activism emphasizes empowerment, wellbeing, and community
healing.
Violence intensified solidarity, resistance, and media attention.
Vp
encourages
adaptation of
influences evolution of
reshapes narratives about
5
Public Perception & Media Framing
LEGEND
Historical Foundations
Mf Media
Transformation of Protest
Framing
Tactics Identity &
Media narratives influence
how protest movements are
interpreted by society.
Intersectionality
Repression & State
Ps
Public Sentiment
Public opinion strongly affects
support for Black Lives Matter
activism.
Po
Polarization
BLM protests intensified racial and
political divisions in public
discourse.
Lp
Dm Digital
Legitimacy of
Memory
Protests
Online remembrance campaigns
preserve memories of racial
violence victims.
Movement credibility
depends on perceptions of
justice and nonviolent
activism.
6. Global & Transnational Dimension
Cp
Counterpublic
1
s
Alternative activist media
challenge dominant political
narratives.
Black Lives Matter inspired anti-racist protests across multiple countries.
2
Framing Global &
Direct Relationship
Transnational Dimension
Indirect Relationship
Central
Concept
* Italic labels
explain
relationships
Diaspora Activism
Shared experiences of racism strengthened transnational
Black activism.
Response Public
Perception & Media
Globalization of BLM
3
Cross-National Protests
BLM ideas adapted to different political and cultural contexts worldwide.

2.

Commentary to the Concept Map
The Representation of War in Nazi Propaganda & Its Role in Shaping Public Opinion
1. Definitions of Key Concepts
Nazi Propaganda
Nazi propaganda refers to the systematic use of communication tools — including film, radio, press,
posters, and public speeches — by the National Socialist regime to shape public attitudes, justify political
decisions, and maintain ideological control over the German population. According to Welch (2002),
propaganda was not simply a tool of manipulation but a central element of political control and social
mobilization in the Third Reich.
Welch, D. (2002). The Third Reich: Politics and propaganda. Routledge.
Public Opinion
Public opinion denotes the collective attitudes, beliefs, and judgments held by citizens regarding political
and social issues. In the context of Nazi Germany, public opinion was actively constructed and managed
through propaganda, social pressure, and institutional coercion. Gellately (2001) argues that Nazi rule was
sustained not primarily through terror but through a combination of consent, conformity, and selective
information control.
Gellately, R. (2001). Backing Hitler: Consent and coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press.
Framing
Framing is a communication process through which media and institutions selectively emphasize certain
aspects of reality while downplaying others, thereby shaping how audiences interpret events. Entman
(1993) defines framing as the selection and salience of particular elements to promote a specific
interpretation, causal attribution, or moral evaluation. In Nazi propaganda, framing was used to present
war as defensive, heroic, and morally necessary.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.
Spiral of Silence
The spiral of silence is a theory developed by Noelle-Neumann (1984) to explain how individuals who
perceive their views as unpopular tend to remain silent, creating an illusion of consensus around dominant
opinions. In Nazi Germany, this dynamic meant that even citizens who privately doubted official narratives
about war rarely expressed dissent, reinforcing the appearance of widespread public support for the
regime.
Noelle-Neumann, E. (1984). The spiral of silence: Public opinion — Our social skin. University of Chicago Press.
States of Denial
Cohen (2001) distinguishes three forms of denial: literal denial (rejecting facts), interpretive denial
(reframing or redefining facts), and implicatory denial (accepting facts but avoiding moral responsibility).
This framework explains how German civilians could simultaneously be aware of wartime atrocities while
psychologically distancing themselves from their moral implications through narrative reinterpretation.
Cohen, S. (2001). States of denial: Knowing about atrocities and suffering. Polity Press.
Volksgemeinschaft

3.

Volksgemeinschaft ('people's community') was a central ideological concept in Nazi propaganda that
promoted the idea of a unified, racially homogeneous national community. Welch (2004) argues that
propaganda worked to integrate civilians into a shared wartime identity, reframing war not as destruction
but as a collective moral obligation and shared national duty.
Welch, D. (2004). Nazi propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a people's community. Journal of
Contemporary History, 39(2), 213–238.
Enemy Depiction / Moral Inversion
Bartov (1998) analyzes how Nazi ideology systematically redefined categories of 'enemy' and 'victim,'
constructing Jews as existential threats while portraying Germans as victims of global conspiracy. This
moral inversion — recasting aggressors as defenders — allowed the regime to frame violence as justified
and necessary, embedding this narrative in military discourse, public rhetoric, and broader cultural
production.
Bartov, O. (1998). Defining enemies, making victims: Germans, Jews, and the Holocaust. The American Historical
Review, 103(3), 771–816.
Pre-propaganda
Ellul (1973) introduces the concept of pre-propaganda as a long-term process of sociological conditioning
that prepares a population to accept explicit propaganda. Unlike direct messaging, pre-propaganda
operates through education, cultural norms, and constant exposure to information, gradually shaping
attitudes so that individuals are predisposed to accept official narratives when they are introduced.
Ellul, J. (1973). Propaganda: The formation of men's attitudes. Vintage Books. (Original work published 1962).

4.

Commentary to the Concept Map
The Representation of War in Nazi Propaganda & Its Role in Shaping Public Opinion
2. Personal Reflection
Constructing this concept map deepened my understanding of how Nazi propaganda operated as a
multi-layered system rather than a simple mechanism of deception. What struck me most was the
interconnection between theoretical frameworks and historical evidence: Entman's (1993) framing
theory and Cohen's (2001) states of denial are not merely abstract models but tools that illuminate
concrete historical processes. The concept of moral inversion (Bartov, 1998) helped me see how
propaganda did not merely suppress truth but actively constructed an alternative moral reality in
which violence appeared justified. Similarly, Ellul's (1973) idea of pre-propaganda revealed that
wartime messaging built upon years of ideological conditioning through education and culture.
Mapping these relationships visually forced me to recognize how propaganda's channels, narratives,
ideological foundations, and psychological mechanisms reinforced one another, creating a system far
more resilient than I had initially assumed.
(Word count: approximately 138 words)
References
Bartov, O. (1998). Defining enemies, making victims: Germans, Jews, and the Holocaust. The American Historical
Review, 103(3), 771–816. https://doi.org/10.2307/2650572
Cohen, S. (2001). States of denial: Knowing about atrocities and suffering. Polity Press.
Ellul, J. (1973). Propaganda: The formation of men's attitudes. Vintage Books. (Original work published 1962).
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
Gellately, R. (2001). Backing Hitler: Consent and coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press.
Noelle-Neumann, E. (1984). The spiral of silence: Public opinion — Our social skin. University of Chicago Press.
Welch, D. (2002). The Third Reich: Politics and propaganda. Routledge.
Welch, D. (2004). Nazi propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a people's community. Journal of
Contemporary History, 39(2), 213–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009404040429