Reference Groups and Protest Participation Among Black College Students

Abstract

HERE ARE two objectives addressed in this study. The first is to explore some of the factors that influence black students in their political behavior and the second is to set those factors in a larger theoretical context. Specifically, much speculation and some empirical research lead us to expect that the family, the peer group, and the school are important stimuli which shape and mold the political attitudes and behavior of young people whether they are white or black, college students or workers.' For example, political scientists in the past decade have developed an extensive body of literature in the subdiscipline of political socialization. One of the major explanations for political behavior and attitudes is centered in the concept of the of political socialization and their influence. It is now well accepted that the family, the group, and the school are major influences on our ways of viewing the political world and our modes of political expression. Indeed, there has developed a considerable controversy over which of these agents is the most influential.2 However, the theoretical and conceptual foundations of much of the work in this area remain ill-defined, contradictory, or nonexistent. This study hopes to set the factors that influence the protest participation of black students into a larger theoretical context, and some data will be offered as substantiation of that theoretical approach.