📚 What Was Studied
The study asks how racially concentrated policy changes translate into political action. The focus is the unprecedented mass closure of schools in segregated, predominantly Black neighborhoods across Chicago and how those directly affected responded politically.
📊 Data and Design — Official Returns, CCES, and Original Closure Data
- Uses official election returns, the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), and original data documenting the school closures.
- Compares political behavior of residents in affected communities to other groups to identify shifts tied to the closures.
🔎 Key Findings — Local Meetings, Ballot Measures, and Election Behavior
- Residents of affected communities increased attendance at political meetings.
- These residents mobilized in support of ballot measures aimed at averting future school closings.
- They increased participation in the subsequent local election while simultaneously decreasing support for the political official responsible for the closure policy — at a higher rate than every other group.
- Together, the results show that groups who previously participated at the lowest rates can become the most active when community issues directly threaten them.
💡 What Explains It — A Theory of Place-Based Mobilization
- Proposes a theory of place-based mobilization in which 'the community' operates as a site of coidentification and political action for marginalized groups, linking spatially concentrated grievances to organized political responses.
⚖️ Why It Matters
These findings clarify how localized, racialized policy harms can generate concentrated political engagement and electoral consequences, reshaping participation patterns and accountability in urban politics.
