Faith and Works: Church-Based Social Capital Resources and African American Political Activisim

This study seeks to examine the relationship between church-based social capital resources and political activism among black Americans. Our results suggest that simply attending church does not provide enough social capital resources to propel blacks into voting and nonvoting political activities. Rather, it is largely those churches that espouse a civic culture where members are exposed to political discussions and are encouraged to be activists that lead to black political engagement. In addition, involvement in church committee life is important to black civic skill development (e.g., communication, writing, and organizing skills), which increases these church activists' competence and confidence to participate in costly and risky political acts. This study also sought to investigate the class composition of such politicized church networks. It is largely the case that such networks are stratified by socioeconomic status, such that middle-class blacks disproportionately hear political messages in church and serve as church activists.