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How the Media Uses the Phrase “Identity Politics”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2022

Karyn Amira Open the ORCID record for Karyn Amira [Opens in a new window]  and
Alexander Abraham
Karyn Amira
Affiliation:
College of Charleston, USA
Alexander Abraham
Affiliation:
Unaffiliated, USA
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Abstract

The phrase “identity politics” has experienced a recent surge in political discourse. However, its meaning varies for highly informed political groups, leaving the term definitionally vague for the general public. Second-level agenda-setting theory can be used to explain how this phrase is communicated to the public by the mass media, a crucial disseminator of political information. We used a quantitative content analysis of major US publications to examine the frequency of this phrase’s use and how it is presented to audiences. We found a surge in mentions beginning in 2016. We also found that it is tied more to the political Left, but there also is a fair amount of linkage to the political Right. The phrase also is portrayed negatively. We advocate for using political communication theories to track emerging political terms in the future.

Type
Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 677 - 681
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

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