Deep stories furnish ready-made narrative lenses for interpreting the world.

Evidence

White Christian nationalism writes a “deep story” in which “we” deserve power and “they” do not. Deep stories are powerful because they give people ready-made narratives rooted in culture that provide organization and structure to the world around them. They are effectively the lenses through which we see and interpret our social worlds. The deep story of white Christian nationalism defines who is a “good” American and a “good” Christian. It clearly identifies the enemies and threats to our country. It provides a specific interpretation of US history, including how the nation should understand itself today. It also imagines the ideal future for the United States and a blueprint for how to achieve those ends. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 228

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains Arlie Hochschild’s ‘deep story’ concept, which operates as framing/narrative theory.
• XREF: Parallels the reader’s prior notes on ‘rebel music,’ hegemony/common sense, and how ideology is lived rather than abstract. — connects to: Deep stories provide culturally rooted lenses for interpreting social worlds. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 228; Diagnostic forest features read like the words of a narrative language — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to…, 10; Narrative that reveals itself as mere image shifts discourse from language to media — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 342 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Deep stories provide culturally rooted lenses for interpreting social worlds. #expands (0.95) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 228
• Alternative maps of interpretation yield fresh perspective on familiar material #corroborates (0.88) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 319
• Media frames shape meaning by selectively emphasizing aspects of a story #expands (0.85) — Emily Greene-Colozzi, Amy Adamczyk, and Senahan Kiyal Keles, Differences in Religious Framing of…, 22
• The world-as-exhibition framework makes reality itself a series of representations #expands (0.82) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 118
• Contemporary realism shifts from personalized content to personalized narrative frame #expands (0.80) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 504
• Interpretive codes function as modes of attention directed at textual phenomena #expands (0.80) — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1686
• Diagnostic forest features read like the words of a narrative language #exemplifies (0.78) — Tom Wessels, Forest Forensics, 10
• Humanity’s reciprocal gift to the world is language and story #expands (0.78) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1276
• Realist narration can analyze global totality through defamiliarized local spaces #exemplifies (0.76) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 350
• Lay readers can understand statistical results by reading the plain-English narrative descriptions #exemplifies (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4570
• Data abstractions strip narrative context to enable unlimited recategorization #complicates (0.74) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 448
• Narrative that reveals itself as mere image shifts discourse from language to media #complicates (0.72) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 342