How We Talk About Political Marginalization

• In Event: The Story of Tonight: Frames, Indexing, and Attitudes

Abstract

Democracy in the United States has never been equally accessible to all, and the story of groups working, campaigning, and organizing to gain a seat at the political table has been constant. Today we often describe these groups as being “political marginalized,” a concept that is used often, and often without clear meaning or utility. There have been efforts to provide theoretical grounding for the concept of political marginalization (Dryzek, 1996), and attempts to provide a clear and useful definition of the term (Alakhunova, Diallo, Martin del Campo, & Tallarico, 2015). According to Alakhunova et al. (2015), “Marginalization is both a condition and a process that prevents individuals and groups from full participation in social, economic, and political life enjoyed by the wider society.” However, very little scholarship has explored the ways in which we have communicated about the condition and process of political marginalization, how much that has changed over time, and how varied our framing of marginalization is depending on our status and position in society. This study aims to address these questions in an effort to re-conceptualize political marginalization to include the ways in which marginalized communities have described themselves throughout history and today.

This study explores the ongoing process of framing “political marginalization” throughout American history. Specifically, my research questions are 1) How marginalized communities describe their political and social status, and how has this changed? And 2) How have politicians and news organizations described the political and social status of marginalized communities, and how has this changed? In exploring these questions I build a framework used to re-conceptualize political marginalization along two axes. First, this study will analyze how marginalization has been identified, described, and framed over time. Second, this study compares the framing of political marginalization between those who identify as being politically marginalized and the dominant political or media institutions that do not. Marginalized groups, often defined by race, ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, and sexual orientation have constantly attempted to communicate about their status in society and the need for change with both in-group efforts, and externally directed communication. Methodologically, I conduct archival and contemporary content analysis in order to explore how organizations and movements have communicated about their political status and the process of working toward greater political inclusion. This includes exploring internal organizing documents, speeches, and public facing communication efforts like the Negro Press, Women’s Suffrage Press, and Newspapers organized around the Labor, Workers Rights, and Gay Rights movements. These texts are compared with leading newspapers and speeches around the nation to measure similarities and differences in terminology, framing, and prioritization of the issues important to marginalized groups. The longitudinal analysis of modern political communication approaches and strategies also offer insights into the extent to which the internet and social media are offering an opportunity for greater visibility of efforts by marginalized communities to voice their concerns and fight for greater inclusion.

Early findings suggest that political marginalization has been a constant subject for members of marginalized communities, however their audience has generally been limited to their own aggrieved community. The focus on marginalization as a concept is rarely covered by news organizations, nor talked about by most politicians until shortly before legislation is offered that addresses the inequities at hand. The communication challenges present for marginalized communities are only exacerbated by the fact the terminology used to describe the status and process of marginalization has been a moving target. The findings and resulting framework can support future work on social movements, issue framing and agenda setting, along with providing a method to explore these communication strategies across time.

Author

• Ben Epstein, DePaul University