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Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Lawrence Bobo  and
Franklin D. Gilliam Jr.
Lawrence Bobo
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
Franklin D. Gilliam Jr.
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Abstract

Using 1987 national sample survey data that included a large black oversample, we reexamine black-white differences in sociopolitical participation. We hypothesized that increases in black empowerment would affect the level of black sociopolitical participation and change the nature of black-white differences in political behavior. The results show that blacks in high-black-empowerment areas—as indicated by control of the mayor's office—are more active than either blacks living in low-empowerment areas or their white counterparts of comparable socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the results show that empowerment influences black participation by contributing to a more trusting and efficacious orientation to politics and by greatly increasing black attentiveness to political affairs. We discuss the results' implications for theoretical interpretations of when and why black sociopolitical behavior differs from that of whites.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 84 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 377 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1990

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