To explore the evolution of political-science research on race, Walton et al., have done a systematic review of more than a century of publications appearing in the disciplinea??s oldest and most prestigious journals: Political Science Quarterly and the American Political Science Review, respectively. Walton and his colleagues uncover a??dual traditionsa?? of race scholarship: an a??African American Politicsa?? (AAP) paradigm emphasizing empowerment and Blacksa?? cultural distinctiveness, and a a??Race Relations Politicsa?? (RRP) approach that focuses on Blacksa?? socio-political status vis-??-vis Whites. Using computer-assisted text analyses, we introduce a measure of racial dialogue that is informed by theory and has suitable empirical properties. We replicate and extend Waltona??s research by adding a third periodical (the Journal of Politics) and demonstrating that, while race conversations are becoming more frequent over time, the dialogues taking place in mainstream journals typically fit Waltona??s RRP (rather than AAP) tradition. Following our analyses, we offer guidelines for researchers seeking to apply our measure to alternative contexts.
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