How Black People and Black Spaces Influence Black Political Attitude Formation

• In Event: Black Politics

Abstract

This project reconceptualizes Black political decision-making and introduces a novel measure that captures how Black social networks and institutions influence Black political attitude formation. An abundance of Black politics research demonstrates Black people are not a monolith and have several internal differences (Cohen 1999; Smith 2014; Smooth 2006). Nevertheless, Black people are also frequently politically unified (Tate 2010; Walton, Smith, and Wallace 2020; White and Laird 2020). Michael Dawson’s (1994) Black utility heuristic framework provides the conventional explanation for this phenomenon. It asserts Black political unity results from Black people using group interests as a proxy for self-interests during political decision-making, a process they operationalize with their now seminal linked fate measure. Meanwhile, others like Walton (1985), Harris-Lacewell (2004), and White and Laird (2020) have underscored the role of Black people and Black spaces during Black attitude formation. I am in conversation with these scholars as I conceptualize the process of political learning via a Black person’s interrelated experiences within Black social networks and institutions, including but not limited to Black churches, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Black media. My theory contends that the more a Black person is embedded within Black social networks and institutions which teach particular political attitudes orientations, explains their adoption of these attitudes, thus explaining observed Black political sameness. I operationalize my concept using survey data and introduce a novel measure called “Black immersion,” which quantifies an individual’s membership and presence in Black social networks and institutions.

Black immersion, how embedded in Black social networks and institutions a Black individual is, is a latent concept I measure using a Bayesian item response theory model (Fariss, Kenwick, and Reuning 2020; Treier and Jackman 2008). I use an IRT model to assess levels of Black immersion because of its conveniences, which include not assuming indicators are equally related and evaluating the relationship between each indicator and the latent trait. These affordances let me analyze the relative importance of various Black social networks and institutions. In short, contrasting the significance of things like having a Black spouse, consuming Black media, and attending a majority Black church for Black immersion is a part of my empirical investigation. Next, after operationalizing Black immersion, I compare its explanatory power to that of individual predispositions linked fate in a series of regression analyses. I also demonstrate how perceptions of linked fate and other in-group racial attitudes are a function of Black immersion.

The theoretical contribution of Black immersion is a shift away from the explanation of Black political decision-making as a result of previously held in-group racial attitudes. An unintended consequence of focusing on individual predispositions–someone's natural tendency to act or feel a particular way- is diminished attention to the process preceding the political attitudes and behaviors we observe (Rogers and Kim 2021). Rather than assume Black Americans innately view the political world in a particular way, I assert and make central the social and environmental factors that inform Black political attitude formation. Methodologically, Black immersion advances Black political socialization research by enabling a nuanced approach to observing and understanding how various Black social networks and institutions simultaneously influence Black political behavior.

Author

• Michael Strawbridge, Washington University in St. Louis