Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T14:01:11.774Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Cost of Participating while Poor and Black: Toward a Theory of Collective Participatory Debt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2020

Sally A. Nuamah Open the ORCID record for Sally A. Nuamah [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How do resource-poor Black populations participate in the policy process? And what are the interpretive impacts of their participation? Using multiyear qualitative data on mass school closures in two large U.S. cities—in which nearly 90% of the population targeted were Black and low-income—I investigate how 1) the school district and local organizations provide resources for those affected to participate in the policy process; 2) affected participants interpret their engagement as contributing positively to the development of civic skills and perceptions of internal efficacy but negatively to their perceptions of politics, policy, and future participation; and that 3) these negative attitudes persist even among those who secure success in fighting the policy. I conceptualize this last phenomenon as indicative of “collective participatory debt” and raise serious questions about the utility of participating while poor and Black in American democracy.

Type
Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 19 , Issue 4: Special Issue: Race and Politics in America , December 2021 , pp. 1115 - 1130
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

She would like to thank the members of the American Politics Workshop at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University for helpful comments. She would also like to thank her advisor Reuel Rogers, her partner Ezekiel Richardson, and the anonymous reviewers for invaluable feedback. The research was supported in part by a fellowship at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University.

References

Anderson, Mary R. 2009. “Beyond Membership: A Sense of Community and Political Behavior.” Political Behavior 31(4): 603–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baiocchi, Gianpaolo. 2005. Militants and Citizens: The Politics of Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, Carolyn Y., and Henly, Julia R.. 2018. “They Are Underpaid and Understaffed”: How Clients Interpret Encounters with Street-Level Bureaucrats.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 28(2): 165–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, Timothy, Pande, Rohini, and Rao, Vijayendra. 2005. “Participatory Democracy in Action: Survey Evidence from South India.” Journal of the European Economic Association 3(2–3): 648–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence, and Gilliam, Franklin D.. 1990. “Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment.” American Political Science Review 84(2): 377–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruch, Sarah K., and Soss, Joe. 2018. “Schooling as a Formative Political Experience: Authority Relations and the Education of Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics 16(1): 36–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burch, Traci. 2013. Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Gurin, Gerald, and Miller, Warren Edward. 1954. The Voter Decides. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.Google Scholar
Chicago Public Schools. 2012. “CPS Announces Five-Year Moratorium on Facility Closures Starting in Fall 2013.” News release, November 26. (https://news.wttw.com/sites/default/files/CPS%20Statement%20on%20Moratorium.pdf).Google Scholar
Chicago Public Schools 2013. “School Action Guidelines, 2012–2013.” (http://cps.edu/About_CPS/Policies_and_guidelines/Pages/2013GuidelinesforSchoolActions.aspx).Google Scholar
Chicago Public Schools N.d. “CPS Schools Data: Racial/Ethnic Report, 2012–2013.” Retrieved May 21, 2014. (http://cps.edu/SchoolData/Pages/SchoolData.aspx).Google Scholar
Cohen, Jody, Golden, Marissa, Quinn, Rand, and Simon, Elaine. 2018. “Democracy Thwarted or Democracy at Work? Local Public Engagement and the New Education Policy Landscape.” American Journal of Education 124(4): 411–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, Stephen C., and Maggiotto, Michael A.. 1982. “Measuring Political Efficacy.” Political Methodology 8(3): 85–109.Google Scholar
Cucchiara, Maia Bloomfield, Gold, Eva, and Simon, Elaine. 2011. “Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education.” Teachers College Record 13(11): 2460–502.Google Scholar
Duncan, Arne. 2009. “Turning Around the Bottom 5 Percent.” Address at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Conference, June 22. US Department of Education. (https://www2.ed.gov/news/speeches/2009/06/06222009.pdf).Google Scholar
Emerson, Robert. M., Fretz, Rachel I., and Shaw, L. Linda. 1995. Writing Ethnographic Notes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Martha. S. 1995. Strategies for Interpreting Qualitative Data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkel, Steve. E. 1985. “Reciprocal Effects of Participation and Political Efficacy: A Panel Analysis.” American Journal of Political Science 29(4): 891–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fung, Archon. 2004. Empowered Participation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fung, Archon, and Wright, Erik Olin. 2001. “Deepening Democracy: Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance.” Politics & Society 29(1): 5–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fung, Archon, and Wright, Erik Olin 2003. Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. Vol. 4. Brooklyn, NY: VersoGoogle Scholar
Hajnal, Z.L. 2009. “Who Loses in American Democracy? A Count of Votes Demonstrates the Limited Representation of African Americans.” American Political Science Review 103(1): 37–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, Hahrie. 2009. Moved to Action: Motivation, Participation, and Inequality in American Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Han, Hahrie 2014. How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henig, Jeffrey R., Hula, Richard C., Orr, Marion, and Pedescleaux, Desiree S.. 1999. The Color of School Reform. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lane, Robert. E. 1959. Political Life: Why People Get Involved in Politics. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Mayes, Eric. 2013. “City Council to District: Delay School Closings.” Philadelphia Tribune, January 25, 2013. http://www.phillytrib.com/news/city-council-to-district-delay-school-closings/article_bbbc3115-1ed4-51fd-9cd5-706ef6520329.html.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2007. Soldiers to Citizens: The GI Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne, and Soss, Joe. 2004. “The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship: Bridging Policy Studies and Mass Politics.” Perspectives on Politics 2(1): 55–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michener, Jamila. 2018. Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, Matthew B., and Michael Huberman, A.. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Morel, Domingo. 2018. Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., Craig, Stephen C., and Mattei, Franco. 1991. “Measuring Internal Political Efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study.” American Political Science Review 85(4): 1407–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nuamah, Sally A. 2020a: “Every Year They Ignore Us”: Public School Closures and Public Trust.” Politics, Groups, and Identities, 1–14. DOI: 10.1080/21565503.2020.1748063Google Scholar
Nuamah, Sally A. 2020b. “The Paradox of Educational Attitudes: Racial Differences in Public Opinion on School Closure.” Journal of Urban Affairs 42(4): 554–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, Mancur Jr. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pateman, Carole 2012. “Participatory Democracy Revisited.” Perspectives on Politics 1(1): 7–19.Google Scholar
Perez, Juan Jr. 2015. “Dyett High School Hunger Strike Ends.” Chicago Tribune. September 20. (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-dyett-high-school-hunger-strike-ends-20150919-story.html).Google Scholar
PHSC (Philadelphia Home and School Council). N.d. Philadelphia Home and School Council. (https://www.philadelphiahsc.org).Google Scholar
Polletta, Francesca. 2002. Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polletta, Francesca 2012. “Participatory Democracy in the New Millennium.” Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews 42(1): 40–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, Deondra. 2018. Citizens by Degree. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Anne, and Ingram, Helen. 1993. “Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy. American Political Science Review 87(2): 334–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
School District of Philadelphia. 2012. “School Information.” Retrieved October 15, 2018. (https://www.philasd.org/performance/programsservices/open-data/school-information/#school_catchment).Google Scholar
Skogan, Wes G., and Hartnett, Susan M.. 1997. Community Policing, Chicago Style. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Soss, Joe. 1999. Lessons of Welfare: Policy Design, Political Learning, and Political Action. American Political Science Review 93(2): 363–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trounstine, Jessica. 2018. Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay, and Brady, Henry. 1995. “Beyond SES: A Resource Model of Political Participation.” American Political Science Review 89(2): 271–94.Google Scholar
Walsh, Kathy. C. 2012. “Putting Inequality in Its Place: Rural Consciousness and the Power of Perspective.” American Political Science Review 106(3): 517–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Nuamah supplementary material

Nuamah supplementary material

Download Nuamah supplementary material(File)
File 63.9 KB