Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
12-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Communication
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Carley Dodd
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Suzanne Macaluso
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Cynthia Roper
Abstract
As the world’s population continues to urbanize, urban studies are increasingly important. Studying the social science behind the rise of the city and its effect on various social phenomena should be a priority for scholars in the field of politics, sociology, and communication, because of the reasonable assumption that the environment of the city alters the way that a person engages people and systems within the city. This is especially true for peripheral and marginalized populations that often lack access to the social institutions necessary to improve their livelihoods. Using Diffusion of Innovation and urban studies theories of Anomie, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, and Mechanical and Organic Solidarity as a beginning theory base, this research studies the role of the city and perceptions of community size in developing local political efficacy. Participants from cities of different sizes (Abilene, Texas and Dallas, Texas) were surveyed on their perceptions of community size, levels of urbanization, and their political efficacy to determine the role that urbanization, city size, and perception plays in shaping political efficacy. The results from this study suggest that neither the city, nor the perceptions of its size and urbanization have a significant relationship with local political efficacy, but age, race, religion, and income all appear to be accurate predictors of political efficacy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Brugman, Dylan Allen, "The Interaction of Community Size and Perceived Local Political Efficacy Among Low-Income Individuals" (2015). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1
Included in
American Politics Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons
Comments
For any questions, please contact Dylan A. Brugman at dab10a@acu.edu