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References to racial issues

Political Behavior volume 17, pages 49–88 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper explores the readiness with which the issue of race comes to the minds of ordinary Americans—the “accessibility” of racial issues—by assessing the frequency with which ordinary Americans refer to racial issues when talking about politics. Explicitly racial issues have declined dramatically in accessibility among the general public over the past thirty years. Coinciding with the decrease in the accessibility of issues explicitly involving race there has been some increase in the accessibility of other issues—crime, poverty, and welfare—that some regard as code words with which whites communicate, in socially acceptable language, continued anxiety about race. There is little evidence, however, that many white Americans use references to such issues to express hostility toward black Americans. Contrary to some interpretations of recent presidential elections, moreover, the increased accessibility of such issues has not produced a windfall of votes for the Republicans.

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  1. Associate Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University, 02138, Cambridge, MA

    Michael G. Hagen

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Hagen, M.G. References to racial issues. Polit Behav 17, 49–88 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01498784

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Keywords

  • General Public
  • Presidential Election
  • Code Word
  • Political Psychology
  • Racial Issue