Racializaton of Institutions

Racialization is the level to which the public and elite language used to describe an institution and its actions evoke race and thus make relevant and highlight debates around racial inequality or racial resentments.

Research Questions

  • Which agencies are more racialized than others?

    • How has that changed over time?

    • How does that vary across different contexts?

      • e.g. draft and final rules, media coverage, and advocacy reports
  • How do perceptions of racialization vary between agencies perceived as conservative versus liberal?

Perceived Ideology

  • Perceived liberal-conservative leaning via expert surveys, appointments, donations, and voting patterns

  • Our study brings race to the forefront in understanding how agencies are perceived

(Clinton and Lewis (2008); Richardson et al. (2019); Richardson et al. (2024); Epstein (1999); Nixon (2004); Chen and Johnson (2014); Maranto (2005); Maranto and Hult (2004); Bertelli and Grose (2011))

Historical Institutional Racialization

  • Racialized history shapes perceptions of agencies

  • We introduce a quantitative measure of racialized institutions, building on rich qualitative research in ADP and REP

(King, 1999; Choi and Rainey, 2010; Schickler, 2016; Tate, 2003; White and Laird, 2020; Mansbridge, 1999; Watkins-Hayes, 2009; Minta, 2009; Juenke and Preuhs, 2012; Hayes and Hibbing, 2017)

Race & Policy Framing

  • Racial attitudes & framing affect policy preferences

  • Our work bridges public opinion research with institutions, elite decision-making, and policy outcomes.

(Gilens, 1999; Kellstedt, 2003; Hutchings & Valentino, 2004; Bartels, 2020; Stephens-Dougan, L., 2020; O’Brian, 2024)

Data

  • Mandate for Leadership (Project 2025)

    • 128 agencies, 7,545 sentences, 853 racialized terms

  • New York Times

    • 22 agencies, 146,491 articles, 38,965 racialized

  • Rulemaking Documents

    • 242 agencies, 102,146 rules, 56,860 racialized
  • Perceived Agency Ideology (Richardson et al., 2019)

Draft and Final Rules

Affirmative Action; African American; African Americans; Africans; Alaskan Native; Alien; American Indian; Anti-discrimination; Anti-racism; Anti-racist; Antidiscrimination; Antiracism; Antiracist; Arab American; Arabs; Asian American; Asians; BIPOC; Biracial; Black American; Black Americans; Black children; Black lives; Black Man; Black Men; Black People; Black Person; Black Students; Black Woman; Black Women; Border Crisis; Citizenship; Civil Rights; Color of their skin; Colorism; Communities of Color; Critical Race Theory; Cultural competence; Culturally competent; D.E.I.; DACA; DEI; Diversity and inclusion; Diversity Equity; Diversity lottery; Diversity objectives; Diversity officer; Diversity visa; Diversity, Equity; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Drug Cartel; Enslavement; Equal Opportunity; Equity agenda; Ethnic; Ethnic Diversity; Ethnicity; Gang; HBCU; Hispanic; Historically Black College and University; Illegal Alien; Illegal aliens; Illegal Immigrant; Illegal immigrants; Illegal immigration; Illegal migration; Immigrant; Immigration; Indian Education; Indigenous groups; Indigenous people; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous person; Inequality; Inequitable; Intersectionality; Latina; Latinas; Latino; Latinos; Latinx; Men of Color; Meritocracy; Mexican Cartel; Mexican Drug Cartel; Mexicans; Middle Eastern or North African Ancestry; Migrant; Minority Populations; Minority status; Minority-Serving; Mixed race; Mixed-race; Multicultural; Multiracial; Muslim; Nationality; Native American; Native-Serving; Non-white; Nonminority; Oppression; Oppressors; Pacific Islander; People of Color; People of Minority Status; Person of Color; Predominately white; Prejudice; Puerto Ricans; Racial; Racial Diversity; Racial Identity; Racial Inequality; Racial Inequities; Racial Injustices; Racial Justice; Racially; Racism; Racist; Secure Border; Secure the Border; Securing the Border; Skin color; Slavery; Social Justice; Socioeconomic; Socioeconomically; South Asian American; South Asians; Stereotypes; Structural Racism; Systemic Racism; Tribal; Tribe; Tribes; Unaccompanied Alien Children; Underrepresented Communities; Underrepresented Minorities; Underserved Communities; Underserved Populations; Vulnerable populations; White American; White Americans; White institutions; White People; White Person; White Privilege; White students; White supremacist; White supremacy; Woke; Wokeism; Women of Color; Xenophobia; Xenophobic

Agency Rules, 2005-2025

Comparing across contexts

For each source, we have two counts: \(r_{i}\) (the count of racialized documents/articles/sentences about agency \(i\)) and \(y_{i}\) (the total document/article/sentence about agency \(i\)).

Percent Racialized \(x_i = \frac{\sqrt{r_{i}}}{\sqrt{y_{i}}}\) (variance stabilized)

Racialization Score \(z_{i} = \frac{x_i - \bar{x}}{sd(x)}\) (standardized, mean 0, standard deviation 1)

Mandate For Leadership Reports

Figure 5: Racialized Words in Project 2025 Mandate For Leadership

Figure 6: Racialization in Rulemaking vs. Project 2025

Figure 7: Racialization in Project 2025 vs. New York Times

Figure 8: Racialization in Rulemaking vs. New York Times

Racialization and Perceived Ideology

Figure 9: Correlation Between Racialization and Perceived Ideology

Figure 10: Correlation Between Racialization and Perceived Ideology

Next Steps

  • Dynamic Racialization Scores
  • Economic Redistribution
  • Compare with Other Agency Characteristics (e.g campaign donations)

Key Takeaways

  • Racialization varies over time, despite stable core missions
  • Racialization is tied to perceived ideological extremism
    • perceived “centrist” agencies received less racialized attention.

Feedback

  • How can we make these measures useful?

  • Contact: kmagana@umich.edu | judgelor@umich.edu

Extra

Figure 11: Distribution of Racialized Words in Mandate For Leadership (Project 2025)

Figure 12: Distribution of Racialized Words in New York Times Articles, 2005-2025

Figure 13: Distribution of Racialized Words in Proposed and Final Rules, 2005-2025

Racialization & DOGE Layoffs

Project 2025 & DOGE Layoffs

NYT & DOGE Layoffs

Rulemaking Racialization & Layoffs

Layoff Predictions