The Caribbeanization of Black Politics

Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America

Sharon D. Wright Austin

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781438468082, 9781438468099
• eBook ISBN: 9781438468105
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Politica pubblica

In The Caribbeanization of Black Politics, Sharon D. Wright Austin explores the impact of ethnic diversification of African American communities on the prospects for black political empowerment. Focusing on Boston, Chicago, Miami, and New York City—cities that for the last several years have experienced an influx of black immigrants—she surveyed more than two thousand African Americans, Cape Verdeans, Haitians, and West Indians. Although many studies conclude that African American group consciousness causes them to participate in politics at higher rates when socioeconomic status is controlled for, Wright Austin analyzes whether this is true for other black groups. She assesses the current political incorporation of these groups by looking at data on public officeholders and by examining political coalitions and conflicts among the groups, and she also discusses the possible future of black political development in these cities.

Chapter One

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE MINORITY GROUP MODEL

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 provides an overview of theories examining black political participation, group consciousness, and political incorporation. Each will provide a context so that we can understand the complex dilemmas faced by African Americans and black ethnics as they seek political power in the cities of Boston, Chicago, Miami, and New York City. I begin with an examination of African American political participation. In each of the four cities under analysis, African Americans have struggled to enhance their political representation in cities with governing regimes that were often hostile to their interests. Over the years, academic literature has tried to ascertain the factors that stimulate higher African American participatory rates, and has attributed group consciousness as a major contributor. Therefore, after the analysis of African American political participation, I will discuss the concepts of group consciousness and linked fate.

One key question that I wish to answer in this analysis is: To what extent does group consciousness stimulate black ethnic political participation? When examining African American and black ethnic interactions, the validity of the minority group model will be assessed. This model predicts that black ethnics will work collaboratively with African Americans because they have the same skin color. I end the chapter with a definition of political incorporation and a discussion of the literature’s observations about the African American and black ethnic quest for it. These latter theories will help us understand whether African Americans and black ethnics will take a united or separate road to political incorporation.

AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Political participatory acts are those “that aim at influencing the government, either by affecting the choice of government personnel or by affecting the choices made by government personnel.”1 They include voting (the most frequently practiced form of political participation), contacting elected representatives, participating in campaigns, etc.2 Electoral (traditional) participation can be distinguished from nonelectoral (nontraditional) participation. Electoral participatory activities are designed to bring about the elections of candidates. These include voting, donating funds, and campaign volunteering.3 When individuals engage in nonelectoral activities, they express their political and policy preferences by attending rallies, participating in demonstrations, signing petitions, contacting elected officials, or meeting with elected officials.

Through their political participation, American citizens gain the potential to benefit themselves and their communities. First, individuals can make their needs and preferences known to governmental actors.4 Second, they address the interests that affect them and the larger society.5 Third, they influence governmental outcomes by electing representatives who promote the interests of their constituents. The ultimate result of this participation is an improved quality of life for both the citizen and his/her community.

African Americans, in particular, understand the importance of political participation because of their experience in America. For many years, they were either completely or partially disfranchised. After the 1960s, black voter registration and turnout rates increased steadily and their preferred candidates won elective offices.

Because of the importance of political participation, scholars began examining the factors that led to higher participation rates, especially in voting. According to previously conducted studies, citizens with higher socioeconomic status, as measured mostly by their incomes, tend to be more involved in various forms of political participation such as campaign volunteering or voting.6 Moreover, the political participation rates of blacks and whites are equal when “social position” (defined as a combination of social class and other demographic characteristics such as age, gender, religion, and place of residence) is controlled for.7

According to the black empowerment thesis developed by professors Bobo and Gilliam, African Americans are also more likely to participate in the political arena in cities where they have elected black representatives for several years. Although white citizens typically have higher participation rates than black citizens, the black participation rate in “high empowerment areas”—those where they have political power—surpasses that of whites.8 The residents of these “empowered” cities have more positive attitudes about government, especially when the cities have African American mayors.9 In addition, black voters have more of an interest in political affairs and exhibit a higher turnout on election day when black candidates have a strong chance of winning elections.10

Education has also been found to be a major impetus for political participation. Almost universally, the scholarly literature finds that education is the strongest contributor to voter turnout because of the higher prevalence of voting among more educated persons.11 When comparing black and white voting participation, most studies have found that white voters usually have equal or higher turnouts than black voters.12 As early as the 1960s, it was discovered that the differences in white and black turnout rates resulted mostly from the latter’s lower educational levels, employment rates, and incomes.13 Black participation, it was argued, would equal or surpass that of whites once their educational levels, employment statuses, incomes, and political resources paralleled those of whites.

As previously mentioned, African Americans frequently vote at higher rates than whites when socioeconomic variables were controlled for. Scholars attributed the higher black participation rates to their strong feelings of group consciousness.14 Sidney Verba and Norman Nie (1972) attribute these differences to the awareness by African Americans of their disadvantaged status as a group.15 They find that individuals with higher socioeconomic status engage in political activities at far higher rates than those with lower socioeconomic status. They refer to individuals with a lower socioeconomic status as having “lower levels of education, lower status occupations, and inadequate income.”16 They reason that these citizens must participate in politics at a higher than expected rate considering their education, income, and occupation status.17 Verba and Nie conclude, “If blacks participate more than one would expect of a group with a similar socioeconomic status (SES), the explanation may lie in the fact that they have, over time, developed an awareness of their own status as a deprived group, and this self-consciousness has led them to be more politically active than members of the society who have similar socioeconomic levels but do not share the group identity.”18

In addition, African Americans engage in political participation as a way to address the racial inequities in American society.19 When asked about various political issues, African Americans who mentioned race more frequently when asked about “the problems they faced in personal life, in the community, and in the nation” were also found to have higher participatory rates than those who failed to mention race.20 Verba and Nie find, “The consciousness of race as a problem or a basis of conflict appears to bring those blacks who are conscious up to a level of participation equivalent to that of whites.”21

According to the authors, group consciousness has a direct linkage with campaign and cooperative activities. While campaign activities are those that are geared toward the elections of candidates, cooperative activities are designed to address specific problems through citizen mobilization.22 Blacks who exhibit higher levels of race consciousness are more likely to participate in campaign activities or cooperative activities than whites. Those who mention race when answering survey questions vote at rates that are equal to whites.23 However, even when controlling for social class, African Americans are less likely to contact a government official than are whites.24 More recent research discovers that group consciousness has less of an influence on black participation at present than in the past.25

In “Black Consciousness and Political Participation: The Missing Link,” Richard D. Shingles sought to ascertain the reasons why group consciousness has such a significantly positive impact on African American participation. His critique of the Verba and Nie study asked three questions. First, why do African Americans have higher participatory rates in some activities, but not others? Second, why does group consciousness impact black participation, but not that of poor whites? Third, what motivates poor whites to become politically active?26 Shingles finds that African Americans are cynical about the ability or willingness of government to respond to them, but nevertheless are confident of their ability to bring about change by working in the political process.27 Both native and foreign-born blacks continue to have a lack of trust in the government because of the racism they experience.28 In addition, because of their group consciousness, African Americans (both poor and middle-class) take more actions to influence public policy than poor whites.29

Other scholarly research clarified the linkage between group consciousness and political participation. Miller et al. find that a common racial identification alone is not enough to impel political participation. This identification must be combined with “feelings of power deprivation, relative dislike for the outgroup, or with the belief that social barriers explain the disadvantaged positons of the poor, blacks, and women” in order to influence participation.30

Thus, the group consciousness concept, also referred to as the ethnic community model, argues that African Americans who have a strong belief in racial solidarity are more likely to participate in politics. Their membership in disadvantaged minority communities results in their having strong feelings of group attachment and group consciousness.31 This group consciousness, belief in racial solidarity, and acknowledgment of their racial group as a disadvantaged one encourages them to use politics as a means to uplift themselves.32

THE CONCEPTS OF GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS AND LINKED FATE

Before determining whether black ethnics have a group identificatio...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction An Overview of the book
• Chapter 1 Political Participation, Group Consciousness, and the Minority Group Model
• Chapter 2 Politics in the New Boston: The Majority-Minority Challenge to the Yankee-Irish Political Hegemony
• Chapter 3 Chicago Politics: Black Participation and the Need for a Progressive Coalition
• Chapter 4 Moderate and Fragmented Black Political Incorporation in Miami-Dade County
• Chapter 5 Black Political Emergence in New York City: The Quest for African American, West Indian, and Haitian Unity
• Chapter 6 Understanding the Implications of Black Political Caribbeanization
• Appendix 1.1 Demographic and Citizenship Questions for Respondents
• Appendix 1.2 Political Participation Questions
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover