Attack of the Norms. A Constructivist Analysis of Conservative Norm Contention and Boycott Politics in the United States of America

Abstract

This thesis is about the right wing and conservative boycotts in the United States of America and what explains the rise in this. To study this the theoretical frameworks of norm life cycle and norm contestation are combined with the methodology of process tracing, scraping and explanatory narrative analysis. The main findings of this thesis are that while the promotion is done by norm entrepreneurs focussing on already existing norm conflicts based on emotional appeals and appeals to identity, it did not lead to habitual validation of the boycotts in the individual level, but the cultural validation of anti-woke norms and anti-transgenderism.