Rising Narratives for Radical Futures Talking Across Difference for a Multiracial Democracy

Learn More about Rising Narratives for Radical Futures

Most People in America agree on one thing: The system is rigged.

Whether it’s the progressive base, cynical independents, or nostalgic traditionalists, there is a universal sentiment that American politics, government, and the economy are ineffective, failing, and standing in our way. But while the frustration is shared, our visions for how to fix it are miles apart.

Rising Narrative for Radical Futures is a first-of-its-kind narrative study by RadComms and The Rising Majority. It offers movement workers a materially grounded, emotionally resonant roadmap to move beyond mere resistance, connect across different values, and set the terms for a multiracial, radical democracy where we are all free.

Inside the narrative landscape

Our research analyzes the media environments people actually live in—from scripted hits like Severance and The Last of Us to cultural touchstones like Joe Rogan and Family Guy—to understand how the stories we consume shape how we view power and change. Our research studied four key audience segments (via Harmony Labs):

✊🏽 People Power (The Base): Driven by justice and liberation, this group believes change happens when everyday people engage in mass collective action to transform the system.
🙃 If You Say So (Moveables): The cynics who think everything is rigged and unchangeable. They focus on “gaming the system” for individual survival and “hacking” the rules for their own benefit.
💪🏾 Tough Cookies (Moveables): Traditionalists who value law, order, and fairness. They want to hold “bad actors” accountable and restore institutions to their original, “just” purpose.
⚡ Don’t Tread on Me (Opposition): Skeptical of government and “outsiders,” this group prioritizes personal autonomy and self-reliance above all else.

Making our vision legible to more people

This digital magazine provides a strategic toolkit for organizers and others to bridge these divides and socialize a 2050 Vision for a better world. You will learn how to:

Anchor messaging in material reality by connecting abstract ideals to everyday impacts on housing, wages, and healthcare.
Frame collective action as a “practical hack” to move cynical audiences from “F*ck it” to “Let’s rewrite the rules together.”
Tell stories that resonate by highlighting protagonists such as nurses, teachers, and small-town workers who stand up to elite extraction.
Redirect anti-elite skepticism by shifting the focus from “outsiders” to the wealthy elites and corporate “villains” who are truly rigging the game.

We recommend reading this magazine either here in your browser or by downloading the pdf. Use the table of contents as a navigation tool to skip around to specific sections. You can find our methodology at the end of the report. If you have additional questions or want to connect about the research, email: vision2050@radcommsnetwork.org.

Our core recommendations

Start with how they see the system: Acknowledge the shared pain of “debt traps” and “soul-crushing jobs.”
Amplify real alternatives: Show—don’t just tell—how communities are already building safety nets through mutual aid and co-ops.
Share collective wins: Counter the “doom-scrolling” narrative with stories of successful organizing and institutional reform.
Partner with trusted messengers: Use voices that embody authenticity, competence, and shared values.

The social movement left has an opportunity to define a compelling, materially grounded, future-oriented story that moves beyond resistance and sets the terms for what comes next. Together, we can build narrative strategies that are emotionally resonant and strategically aligned—mobilizing audiences for action while connecting them to our long-term vision for systemic transformation.

Ready to build a bigger we?

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✅ Want to connect? If you have additional questions or want to connect about the research, email: vision2050@radcommsnetwork.org.

A project of the Radical Communicators Network and Rising Majority. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Spanish Language Media Analysis

In 2026, the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) worked with the RadComms Network to help the coalition analyze U.S. Spanish-language discourse surrounding the topics of “abolition,” “climate change,” “regenerative economy,” and “radical democracy,” as they defined them, throughout 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.

Drawing on thousands of posts, each with over 50,000 or more interactions, across major social media platforms and thousands of public WhatsApp groups, the DDIA team identified and broke down conversations driven by high-impact video, text, photo, and audio content, and looked at how platforms are shaping what gains visibility and influence.

DDIA’s narrative research makes this clear: failing to study Latino online spaces means overlooking a powerful and rapidly growing segment of the digital public sphere, one that is already influencing political behavior, shaping public opinion, and redefining how key issues are understood– a community that absolutely must be engaged by those who care about U.S. democracy, equity, and the future of the United States.