Macrodynamics of black political participation in the post-civil rights era

Research on black political life has demonstrated both the positive effects of black political empowerment and the negative effects of economic and social distress on black political participation. Using black respondents from the Roper Social and Political Trends data set, we estimate the effects of political, social, and economic factors on aggregate-levels of black civic activity in the time period from 1973 to 1994. We hypothesize that black political activity is stimulated by factors that enhance the political empowerment of black communities and is depressed by downward turns in the social and economic fortunes of black communities. We find that the positive influence of black political empowerment on macrolevels of black civic activity is countered by economic and social factors that swamp the benefits gained from black political success.