diff --git a/awx/api/serializers.py b/awx/api/serializers.py
index cb05e615dd..5899b9af77 100644
--- a/awx/api/serializers.py
+++ b/awx/api/serializers.py
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ SUMMARIZABLE_FK_FIELDS = {
     'inventory_source': ('source', 'last_updated', 'status'),
     'custom_inventory_script': DEFAULT_SUMMARY_FIELDS,
     'source_script': ('name', 'description'),
-    'role': ('id', 'role_field', 'content_type'),
+    'role': ('id', 'role_field'),
     'notification_template': DEFAULT_SUMMARY_FIELDS,
     'instance_group': {'id', 'name', 'controller_id'},
     'insights_credential': DEFAULT_SUMMARY_FIELDS,
@@ -4956,6 +4956,7 @@ class ActivityStreamSerializer(BaseSerializer):
 
     changes = serializers.SerializerMethodField()
     object_association = serializers.SerializerMethodField()
+    object_type = serializers.SerializerMethodField()
 
     @cached_property
     def _local_summarizable_fk_fields(self):
@@ -4980,8 +4981,8 @@ class ActivityStreamSerializer(BaseSerializer):
 
     class Meta:
         model = ActivityStream
-        fields = ('*', '-name', '-description', '-created', '-modified',
-                  'timestamp', 'operation', 'changes', 'object1', 'object2', 'object_association')
+        fields = ('*', '-name', '-description', '-created', '-modified', 'timestamp', 'operation',
+                  'changes', 'object1', 'object2', 'object_association', 'object_type')
 
     def get_fields(self):
         ret = super(ActivityStreamSerializer, self).get_fields()
@@ -5024,6 +5025,21 @@ class ActivityStreamSerializer(BaseSerializer):
             logger.debug('Failed to parse activity stream relationship type {}'.format(obj.object_relationship_type))
             return ""
 
+    def get_object_type(self, obj):
+        if not obj.object_relationship_type:
+            return ""
+        elif obj.object_relationship_type.endswith('_role'):
+            return camelcase_to_underscore(obj.object_relationship_type.rsplit('.', 2)[-2])
+        # default case: these values look like
+        # "awx.main.models.organization.Organization_notification_templates_success"
+        # so we have to take after the last period but before the first underscore.
+        try:
+            cls = obj.object_relationship_type.rsplit('.', 1)[0]
+            return camelcase_to_underscore(cls.split('_', 1))
+        except Exception:
+            logger.debug('Failed to parse activity stream relationship type {}'.format(obj.object_relationship_type))
+            return ""
+
     def get_related(self, obj):
         rel = {}
         if obj.actor is not None:
@@ -5106,8 +5122,6 @@ class ActivityStreamSerializer(BaseSerializer):
                         for field in related_fields:
                             fval = getattr(thisItem, field, None)
                             if fval is not None:
-                                if field == 'content_type':
-                                    fval = str(fval)
                                 thisItemDict[field] = fval
                         summary_fields[fk].append(thisItemDict)
             except ObjectDoesNotExist:
diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/activity-stream/factories/build-description.factory.js b/awx/ui/client/src/activity-stream/factories/build-description.factory.js
index 93c1e41593..ddb05b0662 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/activity-stream/factories/build-description.factory.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/activity-stream/factories/build-description.factory.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export default function BuildDescription(BuildAnchor, $log, i18n) {
 
                      // if object1 winds up being the role's resource, we need to swap the objects
                      // in order to make the sentence make sense.
-                     if (activity.summary_fields.role[0].content_type === object1) {
+                     if (activity.object_type === object1) {
                          object1 = activity.object2;
                          object2 = activity.object1;
                      }