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Political Behavior

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10.01.2015 | Original Paper

Racial Disparities in Political Participation Across Issues: The Role of Issue-Specific Motivators

verfasst von: Allyson L. Holbrook, David Sterrett, Timothy P. Johnson, Maria Krysan

Erschienen in: Political Behavior | Ausgabe 1/2016

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Abstract

Research documenting disparities in political participation across racial and ethnic groups (in particular lower levels of participation for Blacks and Latinos, compared to Whites) has primarily focused on broad explanations for racial and ethnic differences in participation (e.g., socio-economic status, social, or psychological resources). There is little research that links racial and ethnic differences in participation across issues to the literature on issue publics and issue-specific factors that may motivate participation. In this study, we examine racial and ethnic differences in participation for a variety of issues and test a model in which issue-specific motivators of participation (self-interest, racial or ethnic group interest, attitude importance, and policy change threat) and general explanations for participation differences (e.g., socio-economic status, political knowledge) account for these racial and ethnic differences. In particular, the results of a survey of Chicago residents show that Blacks, Latinos and Whites demonstrate significant differences in political participation across five issues (affirmative action, immigration, school funding, gentrification, the Iraq War), but that the specific pattern of racial and ethnic differences in participation varies across issues. Issue-specific factors help to explain why racial and ethnic differences in participation vary across issues above and beyond variables shown to be associated with participation more generally (e.g., political efficacy, education). This model has the potential to be expanded and applied to help explain other types of disparities in political participation.

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Respondents who said they were “something else” were asked to specify their race. Respondents who answered this specify question with a clear race or ethnicity were coded appropriately.

Consistent with Leighley and Vedlitz (1999) this variable was operationalized as the proportion of people living in the respondent’s ZIP code who were a race or ethnicity other than the respondent (e.g., the proportion of non-White residents for White respondents). Ethnic competition theory would suggest that higher proportions of other races and ethnicities would lead to greater perceived threat from those groups (Savelkoul et al. 2011). However, intergroup contact theory would suggest that greater contact with members of other racial and ethnic groups would reduce prejudice toward members of those groups. Evidence about the effects of living in areas with large proportions of people from other races and ethnicities is mixed (e.g., Hopkins 2010; Marschall and Stolle 2004; Oliver and Wong 2003; Scheepers et al. 2002; Semyonov et al. 2006; Stein et al. 2000; Taylor 1998).

We created a participation index to account for all forms of participation with a single variable. Racial and ethnic variations across different types of participation could also exist, but this is not the focus of this research.

One could argue that this measure of self-interest in gentrification is actually a subjective measure because it is a self-report of a perception. However, all the measures of objective self-interest are based on self-reports (e.g., having a child enrolled in public school). In addition, we would argue that although perceptions of whether or not gentrification is happening in one's neighborhood is a belief, it seems to be distinct from the measure of subjective self-interest. Respondents could believe that gentrification is happening in their neighborhoods, but believe that it does not affect them. On the other hand, respondents who do not believe gentrification is happening in their neighborhoods could believe that it affects them by affecting the city or violating their core values (e.g., it promotes income inequality). Respondents who thought gentrification was happening did report higher subjective self-interest (mean = .45) than those who thought gentrification was not happening in their neighborhood (mean = .26; t(640) = 4.93, p < .001), but whether or not respondents reported that gentrification was happening in their neighborhood predicted less than 4 % of the variance in subjective self-interest (R² = .037). This suggests that the measure of whether or not gentrification was happening in one’s neighborhood was not simply an additional measure of subjective self-interest.

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Titel: Racial Disparities in Political Participation Across Issues: The Role of Issue-Specific Motivators
verfasst von: Allyson L. Holbrook
David Sterrett
Timothy P. Johnson
Maria Krysan
Publikationsdatum: 10.01.2015
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Political Behavior / Ausgabe 1/2016
Print ISSN: 0190-9320
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-6687
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-015-9299-3

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