Clothes to Kill For: An Analysis of Primary and Secondary Claims‐Making in Print Media

This paper explores print media's representations of the phenomenon of violence or killing for clothing and other fashion apparel items. Using the social constructionist definition of social problems, condition‐categories used by both primary and secondary claims‐makers are examined through rhetorical idioms and forms of talk representing motives, settings, and solutions. Typifications of the problem by primary claims‐makers were related to the vested interest of those making the claims. Media claims were framed differently in different types of news stories. While some overlap was found in the rhetorics of primary and secondary claims‐makers, their differences were sufficient to establish support for the need to examine social problems from the perspectives of various claims‐makers.