The Oklahoma Affirmative Action Ban Amendment: A Dialogic Analysis of Equal Opportunity Discourse in Oklahoma

Using a dialogic lens, this study explored the competing discourses surrounding the Oklahoma Affirmative Action Ban. Focus groups interviews were conducted and findings revealed that Oklahoma residents varied in their discursive positions regarding the ban on affirmative action. Affirmative action w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Howard journal of communications 2017-10, Vol.28 (4), p.356-373
Main Authors: Van Gilder, Bobbi J., Jackson-Kerr, Roni K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Admissions policies
Affirmative Action
discourse
Discourse analysis
Equal opportunity
Equal rights
Human agency
Legislation
Morality
Prejudice
Protection
Race
relational dialectics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Using a dialogic lens, this study explored the competing discourses surrounding the Oklahoma Affirmative Action Ban. Focus groups interviews were conducted and findings revealed that Oklahoma residents varied in their discursive positions regarding the ban on affirmative action. Affirmative action was discursively constructed as both a protection from prejudice and as an inherently prejudiced policy in and of itself. Four dialectical tensions were found to influence individual's positions: (a) individual agency and structural constraints, (b) acknowledgment of progress and recognition of failures, (c) commitment to individuals and commitment to free enterprise, and (d) legal protection and individual morality. Importantly, the interplay of these competing discourses animated individuals' understandings of, and opinions about, affirmative action legislation.
ISSN:1064-6175
1096-4649
DOI:10.1080/10646175.2017.1300966