Determinants of Black Political Participation.

Abstract

This study examined the effect of group and individual-based resources on the political participation decisions of black Americans. Recent research on black Americans' political resources and mobilization characterizes blacks as socio-economically disadvantaged and also politically active. It is argued that a resource mobilization framework could be utilized to examine the unusually high rate of political participation among black Americans. To explore the rationale for this level of participation, the present research systematically investigated the influence of group-based resources such as racial consciousness, group political efficacy, partisanship and organizational membership on levels of participation. Additionally, individual-based resources such as education, family income, age, and personal efficacy were analyzed. A national multi-stage probability sample of 2107 adult black Americans was used. The multivariate analysis revealed that national organizational membership, education, and age were the three most central correlates of political participation. Surprisingly, none of the racial consciousness variables were strong predictors of black political participation. In the concluding chapter theoretical and methodological, implications of the results were discussed. Limitations of the findings were presented and the chapter concluded with a discussion concerning the directions for future research.