Social capital and solving the puzzle of Black women's political participation

Abstract

In the USA, Black women participate in politics at much higher rates than expected, especially given that the group ranks low on many of the traditional correlates of political participation, such as income and education. Using data from the 2000 Social Capital Benchmark Study and the 2011 American National Elections Study, we present an intersectional model of Black women's political participation. Our results demonstrate that many of the traditional factors associated with high levels of political participation matter less for Black women as a group and that social capital plays a key role in promoting their political participation. The high level of social capital in the group, combined with a strong substantive effect of social capital, illustrates the potential of social capital to help explain the puzzle of Black women's political participation. We provide evidence that social capital plays a particularly important role for Black women's political participation when compared to other groups. Our results demonstrate the importance of an intersectional approach to understanding democratic participation, particularly for marginalized groups.