African American Churches and Political Mobilization: The Psychological Impact of Organizational Resources

After a brief evaluation of why the psychological impact of organizational resources has been under-examined, I use data from the 1984 National Black Election Study to analyze the impact of church attendance and political church membership on electoral and political participation and on the psychological components of action--consciousness, system responsiveness, and governmental trust. I find that while church attendance was not a very strong predictor of political involvement or of the differing components of motivation, going to a political church was an extremely influential indicator of both in the 1984 elections.