The Mass Media and the Dynamics of American Racial Attitudes

Paul Kellstedt examines variation in Americans' racial attitudes over the last half-century, particularly in the relationship between media coverage and American public opinion. His analyses reveal that racial policy preferences have evolved in an unpredicted way over the past fifty years. Sustained periods of liberalism, invariably followed by eras of conservatism, respond to cues presented in the national media. Kellstedt examines this relationship between attitudes on the two major issues of the twentieth century--race and the welfare state.

Kellstedt explains the variation in Americans' racial attitudes over the last half-century, particularly the relationship between media coverage of race and American public opinion on race. The analyses reveal that racial policy preferences have evolved in an interesting and unpredicted (if not unpredictable) fashion over the past fifty years. There have been sustained periods of liberalism, invariably followed by eras of conservatism. These opinions respond to cues presented in the national media. Kellstedt then examines the relationship between attitudes on the two major issues of the twentieth century: race and the welfare state.