Jane Kim
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Cassidy Pyle
Research Mentor School/College/Department: School of Information / Information
Program:
Authors: Jane Kim, Cassidy Pyle
Session: Session 2: 10:00 am – 10:50 am
Poster: 11
Abstract
The Supreme Court’s 2023 overturning of “affirmative action” in college admissions has sparked controversy and questioned how admissions boards will reorganize their processes without considering race. While legal and mass media perspectives have been extensively researched, there is limited investigation into the discourse about affirmative action on social media platforms. This study analyzes over 30,000 posts, comments, and related data scraped from the TikTok, Twitter/X, and Reddit APIs. Using thematic analysis, we open-coded social media posts and comments and developed a qualitative codebook. This codebook consisted of arguments for and against affirmative action as well as the rhetorical strategies used by both sides. We plan to combine our analysis of social media data with 25 hour-long interviews with marginalized applicant groups (first-generation applicants, low-income applicants, and students of color) to understand the personal impacts of affirmative action discussions on social media. This study displayed the prevalence of rhetorical framings in arguing for and against affirmative action. Thus far, preliminary results of the social media data suggest the correlation between pro-meritocracy views with anti-affirmative action rhetoric, a significance in incivility within TikTok data compared to other social media platforms, ambivalence concerning socioeconomic status-based affirmative action versus race-based affirmative action, colorblind framing, and differing assumptions about who is considered beneficiaries of affirmative action. Interviews are anticipated to reveal participants’ platform use and experiences with online discussions. Results will elucidate public perceptions, argue future implications for diversity policies, and inform definitions of equity in college admissions. By linking rhetorical strategies to stances on affirmative action and evaluating applicant perspectives, this project provides insights on social media within the national debate about affirmative action. As college admissions are restructured without race-based considerations, this study is targeted at examining this public dialogue.
