Political Efficacy in Black American Eighth Graders

• In Event: Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Paper Discussion Session 2

Abstract

Research on political efficacy in Black youth is limited; yet, critical. Unlike the earlier researchers of political efficacy in Black youth who showed Black students as having lower political efficacy than White students, through interviews and surveys I found that students’ were internally politically efficacious and believed that they could influence American politics through voting, petitioning, and protesting. Not only did students indicate that they were able to understand politics, they also expressed that they were qualified to participate in their own governing. None of the students in this study seemed cynical toward American politics; yet, all seemed somewhat skeptical of their government’s willingness to care for them and their communities.

Author

• Adrianne Rochelle Pinkney, Emory University