When Social Capital Becomes Political Capital: Understanding the Social Contexts of Minority Candidates' Electoral Success in the American States

Abstract Political scientists have long been interested in studying the elective office-holding of disadvantaged groups. However, this line of research primarily focuses on the representation of ethnic minorities in the U.S. Congress and identifies three types of determinants of minority candidates' electoral success: the demographic and political make-up of constituents, candidates' personal traits, and macro-level electoral rules. Much less attention is given to minority candidates' electoral success in statehouses. In this paper, we ask: what factors promote the electoral success of minority candidates in state legislatures? Beyond voter characteristics and electoral rules, we attribute minority candidates' electoral success to the social capital possessed by their in-group constituents. We theorize that social capital manifested as civic engagement and social connectedness, can become political capital for minority candidates. Using the Current Population Surveys Civic Engagement Supplement, we validate state-level measures of social capital by race and ethnicity. Linking group social capital to state legislative election outcomes, we find the stock of minority social capital contributes to the electoral success of minority candidates, while white social capital decreases minority candidates' electoral success. Key findings suggest social capital is a form of political capital for disadvantaged groups with private benefits for in-group candidates.

摘要 政治学家长期以来一直对研究弱势群体担任民选职务感兴趣。然而，这一研究方向主要关注美国国会中少数族裔的代表情况，并确定了少数族裔候选人选举成功的三种决定因素：选民的人口和政治构成、候选人的个人特质以及宏观层面的选举规则。对于少数族裔候选人在州议会中的选举成功则关注甚少。在本文中，我们提出问题：哪些因素促进了少数族裔候选人在州立法机构中的选举成功？除了选民特征和选举规则之外，我们将少数族裔候选人的选举成功归因于其同族群选民所拥有的社会资本。我们提出理论，即表现为公民参与和社会联系的社会资本可以成为少数族裔候选人的政治资本。通过使用《当前人口调查公民参与补充资料》，我们按种族和族裔验证了州一级的社会资本衡量标准。将群体社会资本与州立法选举结果联系起来，我们发现少数族裔社会资本存量有助于少数族裔候选人的选举成功，而白人社会资本则降低了少数族裔候选人的选举成功。主要研究结果表明，社会资本是弱势群体的一种政治资本，对同族群候选人有私人利益。