Resilience to Adversity: Black Voters and Costly Political Behaviors

• In Event: To Save the Soul of America: Black Politics and the State of American Democracy

Abstract

Drawing on political science and psychological research, I develop the concept and measure of racial resilience, defined as a cognitive psychological resource that individuals orients to persevere through obstacles. I measure and then test the effects of racial resilience using African Americans’ political motivation and participation as a case. Leveraging a lay understanding of perseverance among Black people, I show that Black Americans’ reactions to collective adversity are interconnected with their obligations to endure hurdles associated with civic-oriented acts. Racially resilient African Americans anchor their worldview in shared cultural recollections of historical events, leading to their increased obligation to withstand obstacles to vote and engage in political acts. Individuals with greater racial resilience engage in higher-cost political behaviors more frequently than those with lower racial resilience. These findings demonstrate the necessity to update existing theories of Black political behavior to specify mechanisms and account for the counterintuitive impacts of persistent inequality.

Author

• Christine Marie Slaughter, Boston University