The Cost of Participating while Poor and Black

Toward a Theory of Collective Participatory Debt

Bibliographic Data

ID6319630
AuthorsSally A Nuamah (0000-0002-1295-6451, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume19
Issue4
Pages1115-1130
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1537592720003576
OpenAlexW3095044078
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited38

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

Business · Citizen journalism · Debt · Democracy · Economic growth · Economics · Perception · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Homelessness and Social Issues · Psychology · Public Policy and Administration Research

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