What do we know, and what do we need to learn?
Report Publish Date: June 2023
This journal article examines previous studies about whether rich storytelling from the point of view of people impacted by racism and racist policies builds support for policies that promote equity. It also lays out a research agenda to fill the gaps in our knowledge.
Most studies to date look at short messages about race and racial disparities. Many studies find that this kind of messaging can reduce support for policies meant to increase equity. But there have not been as many studies on “richer, more nuanced stories of lived experience and/or detailed historical and contemporary accounts of the ways racism is embedded in public policy design and implementation,” the authors write. A few of the studies that have been done suggest that this kind of deep storytelling, rooted in experience, can move the needle.
The authors say there is a need for longitudinal studies as well as studies that look at:
The authors wanted to explore what is known about what kind of messaging helps promote policies that advance racial equity. They also wanted to identify gaps in our knowledge so they could propose new directions in research that might help advocates and policymakers better promote racial equity policies.
The authors conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed studies in a range of fields. They analyzed 55 peer-reviewed papers that included 80 studies.
"The time has arrived to invest the effort and resources to develop, test, and disseminate communication interventions that advance racial equity through policy advocacy, community mobilization, and collective action.”
—Jeff Niederdeppe, JiaweI Liu, Mikaela Spruill, and Neil A. Lewis Jr., Cornell University; Steven Moore and Erika Franklin Fowler, Wesleyan University; and Sarah E. Gollust, University of Minnesota
When people understand why inequities exist, they are more likely to support policies that address root causes rather than blame individuals. Storytelling doesn’t just inform; it reshapes beliefs about who is affected and why change is necessary.
This work suggests that change occurs when communication transforms mental models, not just opinions—by emphasizing structure over individual blame, centering lived experience, and connecting understanding to collective action.
Long-standing racial inequities in health and well-being are largely driven by racialized public policies that perpetuate disadvantage among Black, Brown, Indigenous, and people of color. Successful efforts to dismantle the structures that perpetuate existing power imbalances will require broad societal changes in how public policies are designed and implemented. Although by no means a panacea, there is also evidence that strategic messaging can help to accelerate public and policymaker support for public policies that advance population health in general. Although scholars across many disciplines have studied the role of communication in shaping attitudes toward specific policies with racial health equity implications, we lack a comprehensive understanding of lessons learned from that work and the gaps in knowledge it reveals.
This has not stopped a variety of scholars, however, from drawing sweeping conclusions about the impact of various message strategies related to racial equity. These debates highlight the need for a reckoning of the evidence and knowledge claims related to strategic messaging to promote policies that advance racial equity.
This study and report were conducted and created by the following people.
