Commonly known as “civic engagement,” getting involved within communities in a formalized way has served a foundational role in the development of the United States. Missing from foundational conceptualizations of analyses is theoretical and empirical research that does not center White people and experiences. In this article, I argue that researchers need to incorporate an understanding of Black American's relationship with civic engagement to increase the accuracy of literature on civic engagement. Toward this goal, I first outline the foundational conceptualizations of civic engagement. I next discuss the limitations of civic engagement theories with a focus on data sources and the exclusion of non‐White persons within foundational texts. I then highlight the historical civic activities of Black Americans that has been foregrounded in research on Black voluntary associations. This project pushes for a discussion on the relationship between civic engagement and race with a focus on Black Americans that is relevant to sociological understandings of civil society. I conclude by discussing how filling this gap has a far‐reaching impact in the field of collective behavior and social movements.
Sociologists have queried over the utility and effectiveness of generational analysis for some time. Here, the authors contend that intragenerational analyses are needed to critically and comprehensively make sense of the social world. Drawing on four presentations during the presidential session titled, “#NextGenBlackSoc: New Directions in the Sociology of Black Millennials,” the authors use Black Millennials as a case to illustrate how racializing generational studies can strengthen sociological research in four particular subdisciplines: Collective Behavior and Social Movements, Religion, Gender and Sexuality, and Family. They ultimately argue new analytic approaches are necessary to produce significant research on individuals and groups with complex intersectional identities and the particularities of their social experiences.
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