The Obligation Mosaic

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Political participation is a costly activity with little clear payoff. And yet, millions of Americans vote, a smaller number donate their time and money to campaigns, and people spend time becoming informed on issues they will have almost no influence over. Among racial groups, African-Americans participate at relatively high levels compared to whites and Asian-Americans. What explains this? Allison Anoll in Community Calls looks at the power of social norms in a community, specifically a civic duty norm, as an explanation for variation in political participation in different racial and ethnic communities. The content of the norm reflects what it means to be part of the group, and the timing of their incorporation into the American political process. Anoll argues that distinct racial histories and continued racial segregation help explain the strength of the norm in African-American communities where people seek to honor the sacrifices of those who fought for political rights and to help those in need because of racial injustice. The civic duty norm in African American communities includes both "the honoring ancestors norm" and to help those in need or "the helping hands norm." For Black Americans, honoring ancestors means claiming political rights once unavailable to the group and helping those in need means correcting injustices of racial discrimination and poverty through political action. In contrast, among Asian-Americans, both norms are present but work very differently in politics. Asian Americans, who have among the lowest rates of political participation, comply with theses norms in distinctly apolitical ways. They honor ancestors through cultural traditions and state that helping those in need must be balanced with other obligations like family economic stability. Anoll bases her study on a series of interviews and an extensive survey exploring the reasons for political participation or the lack thereof. The interviews establish what the norms mean to people and how they differ from one racial and ethnic group to another. The survey measures how far these norms can be found and what their impact might be on attitudes towards political participation as well as actually doing something (or not)"--