Unequal values: equality and race in state of the union addresses, 1960–2018

Abstract

We analyze the prevalence and framing of references to equality and inequality in presidential state of the union addresses (SOTUs) delivered between 1960 and 2018. Despite rising income inequality and increased attention among political elites to structural inequalities of race and gender in recent years, we find very few direct or indirect references to inequality as a social problem and surprisingly few references even to the ostensibly consensual and primary values of equal opportunity and political equality. References to racial inequality have been few and far between since the height of the civil rights era. By contrast, another primary value in the American political tradition—economic individualism are a major focus in these SOTUs. We trace the scant presence of equality talk in these speeches to the ambiguous scope of egalitarian goals and principles and their close tie-in with race in America. We rely on automated text analysis and systematic hand-coding of these speeches to identify broad thematic emphases as well as on close reading to interpret the patterns that these techniques reveal.

Development of Ecosystem for Corporate Green Innovation: Resource Dependency Theory Perspective

“…Third, there is little research on government attention, and no widely accepted measure of government attention. In addition to the government work reports issued by the Chinese government, some countries and economies such as the United States, Russia, and the European Union also have the state of the nation addresses [122,123], which provide scholars with an adequate research base to study government attention. Therefore, this study suggests future research may further examine the concept of government attention and its related research.…”