Is The Great Awokening Really Winding Down? Part II: Evidence from News Media
Others (here, here and here) have argued previously that The Great Awokening might be winding down. I have shown before some preliminary evidence from Twitter content about how Great Awokening terminology with negative connotations are indeed down but those with positive connotations have stabilized at their previous peak. Here, I summarize some quantitative evidence regarding usage of Great Awokening terminology in news media.
Mentions of ethnic prejudice are down in some of the most influential American newspapers.
Other types of prejudice also appear past their previous peaks (with the exception of gender identity prejudice).
When aggregating data from a wider sample of outlets in the US, same trend holds.
Similar pattern in the UK:
Despite the recent mild decrease, average monthly mentions in news media of prejudice-signifying terminology are similar between the entire Trump administration and the first half of the Biden administration.
Great Awokening terminology with positive connotations (social justice, equity, inclusive, fairness, etc) is down in 2022, but only slightly with respect to its 2021 peak.
Overall, I think it is still too early to conclusively determine whether we truly are post Great Awokening. The fact that Trump is no longer in the White House has probably subtracted energy from the movement (as reflected in the news media data above). But his return to the White House, or the election of a Republican U.S. President could easily reignite the spirit of the Great Awokening.
Another wonderful contribution, David. I am so grateful to you for figuring out how to measure something so diffuse and important.
This confirms my impression, but you’re right to be cautious. I set out the reasons both to be optimistic that the Great Awokening has peaked, as well as the reasons it’s far from over — and warned that Trump’s re-election could shock the movement back into rude good health — here: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/05/27/a-dispatch-from-the-woke-wars/