Racial Discourse and Partisanship in Politicized Cyberspace

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Racial Discourse and Partisanship in Politicized Cyberspace RACIAL DISCOURSE AND PARTISANSHIP IN POLITICIZED CYBERSPACE by Jeffrey Dowd A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Sociology Written under the direction of Paul McLean And approved by ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey OCTOBER, 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Racial Discourse and Partisanship in Politicized Cyberspace By Jeffrey Dowd Dissertation Director: Paul McLean This dissertation investigates conceptualizations of race and discourses around the topic of race in contemporary America. I examine how the internal interaction between non-elite partisans (i.e. not party officials, politicians, or media celebrities) preserves partisan racial discourses. I specifically focus on how commenters on partisan political blogs discuss racial controversies. I observed the interaction dynamics of partisans as I analyzed reactions that comments elicit among other participants. This focus allows me to move beyond a conventional content analysis that others have done via surveys, interviews, and more recently, analyses of blog posts, toward a deeper understanding of how partisans maintain the partisan divide on race. My dissertation concentrates on two controversies in the news. Drawing on the sociological literatures on “colorblindness,” framing, and interaction rituals, as well as the political science literature on racial polarization, I argue that, during such controversies, the interactions between commenters on right and left blogs focus discourse on different aspects of a controversy, establish the boundaries of legitimate debate, and manage the ambiguity around racial claims that periodically arises during internal debate. Furthermore, I contend that understanding the processes by which partisans co-produce discourses helps explain the durability of the partisan divide on race. ii Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance my committee. I would like to thank committee members, Karen Cerulo, Khadijah Costley-White, and Ann Mische for their insightful comments and critiques of my work. The chair of my committee, Paul McLean, was essential to my completion of this work. I would also like to thank Paul for his guidance throughout graduate school. I began teaching as a teaching assistant for his Introduction to Sociology course and had my first graduate class with him. Paul has been an integral part of my scholarly work and educational journey throughout graduate school. In addition, I wouldn’t have made it through graduate school without the support and friendship of my fellow graduate students at Rutgers. I would also like to thank my family for all of their emotional and financial support over the years – my parents, Ray and Marilyn Dowd, my in-laws Bob and Phyllis Hemler, and my brothers/sister-in laws Glenn and Kate Dowd and Jason and Colleen Dowd. Most of all, I would like to thank my wife, and fellow graduate student, Jennifer Hemler, not only for her support, but for making this journey worthwhile. Finally I thank, my son, Milo for the happiness he brings myself, my wife, and everyone he meets. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………....…….iii INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 POLITICAL BLOGS .......................................................................................................................................... 4 MY STUDY ................................................................................................................................................... 7 PLAN OF THE DISSERTATION ......................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1: PARTISAN DIVIDES AND RACIAL DISCOURSE IN “POST-RACIAL” AMERICA ...................... 15 ORIGIN OF CONTEMPORARY PARTISAN DIVIDE ................................................................................................. 15 RACISM AND THE NORM OF EQUALITY ........................................................................................................... 17 DOMINANT RACIAL FRAMEWORKS: COLORBLINDNESS ....................................................................................... 20 POLITICAL DEBATES ..................................................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 2: EXAMINING BLOGS ......................................................................................................... 28 SELECTING THE BLOGS ................................................................................................................................. 29 SELECTING POSTS AND ESTABLISHING RELEVANCY ............................................................................................ 29 RELEVANT COMMENTS AND THREADS ............................................................................................................ 33 DATA ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................................... 34 IDENTIFYING CONVERSATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 37 TYPES OF INTERACTIONS/CONVERSATIONS ...................................................................................................... 39 INTER-CODER RELIABILITY ............................................................................................................................. 41 PART I: THE GATES CASE ..................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 3: DISTRACTION .................................................................................................................. 49 DISTRACTION ON THE LEFT: “CRAP … ON THE AIRWAVES” ................................................................................. 52 DISTRACTION ON THE RIGHT: “RACE-BAITING PLOY” ........................................................................................ 59 CONCLUSION: LEGITIMATE RACIAL ASPECTS .................................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER 4: THE RACIAL PEACE ........................................................................................................... 65 RACIAL PEACE ON THE RIGHT: “IT IS ABOUT RACE.” .......................................................................................... 69 RACIAL PEACE ON THE LEFT: “OBAMA MUST OBVIOUSLY ANSWER FOR ALL THINGS BLACK” ...................................... 79 CONCLUSION: DISCURSIVE PROMISCUITY/IDEOLOGICAL RIGIDITY ........................................................................ 90 CHAPTER 5: RACIAL PROFILING AND CIVIL LIBERTIES .......................................................................... 93 THE RIGHT AND PROMOTIVE RACIALIZATION: “RACISTS SEE RACISM BEHIND EVERY ROCK” ...................................... 96 THE LEFT AND PROTECTIVE DERACIALIZATION: “THIS WASN’T A RACIAL THING.” .................................................. 102 CONCLUSION: FLEXIBLE STRATEGIES ............................................................................................................. 108 PART II: THE SOTOMAYOR CASE ....................................................................................................... 111 CHAPTER 6: RACIAL ORDERS: “THEY ARE THE RACISTS”: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MORAL DIVIDE ON RACE ................................................................................................................................................ 116 RACIAL ORDERS ON THE LEFT: “THE REPUBLICAN PARTY = THE PARTY OF WHITE SUPREMACY” .............................. 121 RACIAL ORDERS ON THE RIGHT: “HATRED, RACISM, AND BIGOTRY…WHOLLY OWNED BY…THE DEMOCRAT PARTY” .... 131 CONCLUSION: MISALIGNED POLITICIZATION .................................................................................................. 143 CHAPTER 7: IDENTITY POLITICS ......................................................................................................... 147 RACIAL APPEALS: THE FIRST LATINA JUSTICE ................................................................................................. 152 CONSIDERATIONS OF RACE: INEQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION ........................................................................ 156 RACE-BASED GROUPS: LA RAZA AND THE KKK ............................................................................................... 164 CONCLUSION: DISPARATE INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORKS .................................................................................. 169 CHAPTER 8: DIVERSITY ..................................................................................................................... 171 DIVERSITY ON THE LEFT: “WTF. THIS ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE.” .......................................................................... 175 DIVERSITY ON THE RIGHT: “IT IS RECOGNIZING INDISPUTABLE FACTS.”
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