As the Democratic primaries begin to really heat-up…one has to wonder, why African Americans have defected the Clinton camp for the charm of Barack Obama. Moreover, a recent comment made by Bill Clinton also adds an interesting observation that continues to plague African American voters in this year’s primaries: ““God works in strange ways,” Clinton told the congregation at Temple of Praise in southeast Washington this morning. “All my life I have wanted to vote for a woman for president,” he added, noting he was “born to a widowed mother” who sometimes “suffered discrimination” at work. “And all my life I have wanted to vote for an African American for president,” he continued, saying his life in politics “was born in the civil rights struggle.” “I wonder why God gave us this dilemma,” he asked.
(MSNBC, 2008).
Incidentally, the parallel made by Bill Clinton of why African Americans in general may be torn between the two candidates- may be a correct assumption, however, the answer may also partially lie in a psychological term called “self identity.” More importantly, the constructs of self identity appear to be fluid within the psychological community. Whereas, over 6000 entries in the ERIC database relate to self-concept.
This interesting construct emerges from the school of self-concept. Which, apparently is the most widely utilized term in psychology. Perhaps the most important distinction that differentiates various conceptualizations is whether self-concept is viewed as an overarching, global characteristic of the person, or as a set of self-evaluations specific to different domains of behavior. The global view, sometimes conceptualized as “self-esteem” or “general self-concept,” is the older and probably the more common view among counselors and therapists (Strein, 1993). Items comprising the “Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale” (Rosenberg, 1965) capture the essence of the global self-concept idea, and continue to be used frequently in research. “The Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale” (Piers, 1984) and the “Tennessee Self Concept Scale” (Fitts, 1991), both commonly used instruments, are also rooted in the global tradition, although each also provides domain-specific scales.”
Several studies have gauged the African Amerian psyche as it relates to self identity. Steck et al (2004) examined sub-samples of African American and White students in various universities in the Northeast. Their findings were rather surprising. Whites by far, are less likely to perceive themselves in racial terms compared with the Black sub-sample. Blacks overwhelmingly identified with “racial salience” (another approach to self-identity in an environment of a Historically Black College) .
The question at large is…how does this translate to African American voter behavior in the Democratic primaries. In addition to self identity, social identity is also critical when understanding African American voting behavior. Social identity is defined as the ‘individuals knowledge that he/she belongs to certain social groups together with some emotional and value significance to him/her of the group membership’ (Abrams and Hogg, 1990, p.2). Therefore, it is the groups that we belong to that form our social identity or our ‘self conception as a group member (Slay, 2003).
References
Montanaro, D. (Feberuary 8, 2008). BILL SPEAKS AGAIN OF VOTERS’ ‘DILEMMA’. Retrieved from http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/10/653259.aspx on February 11, 2008.
Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. In the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London: The Hogarth Press, 1962.
Fromm, E. (1956). The art of loving. New York: Harper & Row.
Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Encounters with the self (2nd ed.). New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Brahm, N. (1981). “The assessment of self concepts of educational achievement by a criterion referenced approach.” (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 235 184)
Burns, R. B. (1979). “The self-concept in theory, measurement, development and behaviour.” London: Longman.
Fitts, W. H. (1991). “Tennessee Self Concept Scale, Manual.” Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
Marsh, H. W. (1992). “Self-Description Questionnaire II: Manual.” Macarthur, Australia: Publication Unit, Faculty of Education, University of Western Sydney.
Piers, E. V. (1984). “Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale: Revised Manual.” Los Angles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Steck, L., Hecker, D & Heckert A, (2004).The salience of racial identity among African-American and white students. Race and Society
Volume 6, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 57-73.
Reference: Slay, H.S. (2003). Spanning two worlds: social identity and emergent african-american leaders. The Journal of Leadership Studies, 9, No 4.
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