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Marijuana Politics: Elite Racial Discourse, Socio-Economic (In)Justice, and Attitudes Towards Marijuana Legislation

Oppon-Acquah, Yorkow
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5304-9129
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1721640457079643

Abstract Details

2024, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Political Science.
Legalizing marijuana is often advocated as a measure to address the persistent racial injustices within the American criminal justice system. Previous research indicates that support for marijuana legalization has become increasingly entrenched. However, there has been no prior study that directly evaluates the influence of pro- and anti-legalization arguments by elites, specifically those framed in terms of their impact on the African American community. Considering this, the primary objective of this study is to understand how deeply rooted opinions about marijuana legalization are. I do so by examining the extent to which elite racial appeals prime voters' racial predisposition to marijuana policies. Specifically, I investigate the effect of explicit elite racial framing on respondent's policy position on the extent of legalization (recreational use nationwide, medical use nationwide, illegal nationwide, or leave the decision to the states), social equity-focused policies (reparative justice), and beliefs about whether legalization would help improve underrepresented communities. I further study why some sectors of the population are fiercely opposed to marijuana policies even when exposed to positive information about legalization, thereby investigating whether the American public is willing to change their beliefs towards marijuana policies in the face of countervailing information that confounds stereotypes. To address these research inquiries, I employ a two-step methodology. Initially, I analyze support for marijuana policies utilizing nationally representative surveys. Subsequently, I incorporate a novel survey-embedded experiment to assess the impact of elite racial communication on voters' views about marijuana. The experimental manipulation revealed statistically significant differences across the three conditions on several dependent variables. These include respondents' policy positions on the extent of legalization, opinions on the economic impact of legalization on marginalized communities, and views on marijuana economic reparative policies. This suggests that opinions about marijuana policies are not deeply entrenched or settled; rather, they are nuanced and malleable, particularly when shaped by explicit elite racial rhetoric. The differential treatment effects - except for views on economic reparative marijuana policy, which consistently showed high levels of support among Blacks - were more pronounced among Black Protestants and Blacks who consider their racial identity important to their self-concept. Contrary to previous literature suggesting that racial cues must be implicit rather than explicit to be effective, these experimental results demonstrate the nuanced influence of explicit elite communication that directly addresses how African American communities would be affected by marijuana legalization policies.
Stephen Mockabee, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Brian Calfano, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
David Niven (Committee Member)
133 p.
Political Science
marijuana legalization; marijuana reparative programs; Criminal justice system; Elite framing; racial identity; public opinion

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Oppon-Acquah, Y. (2024). Marijuana Politics: Elite Racial Discourse, Socio-Economic (In)Justice, and Attitudes Towards Marijuana Legislation [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1721640457079643

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Oppon-Acquah, Yorkow. Marijuana Politics: Elite Racial Discourse, Socio-Economic (In)Justice, and Attitudes Towards Marijuana Legislation. 2024. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1721640457079643.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Oppon-Acquah, Yorkow. "Marijuana Politics: Elite Racial Discourse, Socio-Economic (In)Justice, and Attitudes Towards Marijuana Legislation." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1721640457079643

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1721640457079643
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© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.