Gauging American Attitudes Toward Minorities, 1920s-1960s

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SES-1155146Howard SchumanUniversity of MichiganAbstractGauging American Attitudes Toward Minorities, 1920s-1960sSurvey data provide systematic evidence on changing attitudes of white Americans toward black Americans over the past 70 years, as the rights of African Americans -- and later of other minorities -- expanded as part of the "rights revolution." Little is known about the evolution of white racial attitudes prior to the mid-1940s, however, when surveys began to gather trend data. Our first research goal is to investigate trends in racial attitudes through a content analysis of a sample of articles in key newspapers and national magazines from the period 1929-1946. Our second research goal is partly methodological, and centers on an investigation of the years 1946-1965, a period in which survey data on racial attitudes became increasingly available. Using the same approach, we will carry out a content analysis for these years as well, allowing us to compare the content analysis from both eras with racial attitude trends identified by means of repeated surveys. Broader ImpactsFindings from this research seek to improve our understanding of public attitudes toward minorities during the period of the Great Depression and World War II years. The substantive findings may be of interest to the general public and scholars. The study also seeks to make an epistemological contribution: In this case, our understanding of how racial attitudes have changed has been limited by the fact that trend data have only been available since the post-WW2 era. Findings from this content analysis of mass media sources pre- and post-WW2 will help us assess the degree to our historical understanding of race relations reflects the methodologies used to gauge racial attitudes, and the advantages and limitations of each.