The Obligation Mosaic: Race and Social Norms in Political Participation by Allison P. Anoll

Abstract

Although the disparity in voting participation rates between Black Americans and non-Hispanic White Americans has shrunk considerably over the last six decades, Latino and Asian American turnout continues to lag. In The Obligation Mosaic, Allison Anoll takes up the question of these racialized patterns of participation. Building upon previous work on how norms and social pressure motivate political behavior, she offers a compelling new theory of how norms that are widely held across racial groups can produce racial group differences in political engagement due to racial segregation and distinct group histories. Anoll uses the method of grounded theory to develop her “Racialized Norm Model (RNM)” (43). She interviews Black and Asian Americans, looking for the social norms related to political participation that bubble up to the surface in the conversations. Two norms emerge: an “honoring ancestors norm” (ie, honor those in the past who created opportunities for today) and a “helping hands norm” (ie, people should take care of others in need). While both Black and Asian American interviewees invoked these norms, Anoll discovers that Black respondents were much more likely to link them to politics. The qualitative data are rich, reflecting Anoll’s skill in designing an interview protocol that is generative but not leading. I highly recommend her discussion of grounded theory and supplemental appendix to graduate students and others interested in qualitative interviewing. One small critique is that I would have liked to see some demonstration that the helping hands norm is distinct from political ideology.