Politics of Southern Equality: Law and Social Change in a Mississippi County by Frederick M Wirt

Author:Frederick M Wirt [Wirt, Frederick M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781351498227
Goodreads: 35865539
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

8 Racial Political Strategies in the New South

Motivations for Changing Black Political Activism

National law, changing the basis of Old South politics by dealing a new set of players into the game, has raised certain questions about the future of that politics. In a newly developed polity, will a new strategy also develop? How will the new voters influence the operation and organization of a traditionally one-party system? How will that system channel the interests of the new voters? Will the new voter find a payoff for his efforts? Will there be any special weakness in Negro political power? As it is always easier to raise than to answer questions, and to guess at rather than to know the future, I advance the following very tentatively; a future of infinite possibilities always mocks finite man's efforts to see it clearly.

A key factor will be the extent of black participation. In speculating on this facet, the recent study by Donald R. Mathews and James Prothro is most suggestive of the shape of 'The New Southern Politics" and of the factors influencing that black participation.1 They suggest that four factors theoretically could be influential. One could be community structure, the distinctive census characteristics of a place and its racial attitudes. So, too, could a community's political system, that is, its behavior and attitudes about involvement in politics. A third factor might be the distribution of individual socio-economic attributes, and a fourth could be individual attitudes and cognitions, i.e., opinions and perceptions about political and racial matters.

Their research, using survey data and community studies, demonstrates that although community structure more likely shapes socio-economic attributes and the political system, and these latter influence Negro attitudes and cognitions, it is this last factor which most influences Negro political participation.2 Most important for the purposes of this chapter are the authors' conclusions on these interrelationships.

The policy implications of these findings are of considerable significance. Negro changes in the political system —such as those coming from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 —can increase Negro political activity. But any increases are likely to be small unless or until these changes of legal climate lead to such changes in Negro attitudes and cognitions as greater interest, partisanship, information about the parties, and general political information. The associations among all these classes of variables are great enough, however, to suggest a real change in one is likely to have some impact on all the others.3

What changes can we point to in the politics of Panola County which will fit Negro attitudes and cognitions so as to increase their participation? In answering this question, we must bear in mind that it applies to two groups of Negro adults, those who did and those who did not register to vote. What is there in the cognitive outlook of blacks which moves some but not others to register and to vote? In brief, the answer must lie in events in the real world which impinge upon perceptions, causing a change in cognition and attitude, which in turn increases the likelihood of participation.

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