Diverse Views of Political Empowerment Among Community College Students Who Receive Food Assistance Benefits

Abstract

This article examines political empowerment related to voting. The profession of social work requires practitioners to consider the social political roots of problems and to work to remediate them through micro and macro interventions, informed by political empowerment. Political empowerment involves having the power, ability, critical awareness, and sense of group identity to take action in order to create change in a political system. Findings from a qualitative study are presented to explore how recipients of food assistance benefits, enrolled in community college make decisions about voting. Data collected provides rich and contextual insight into how the decision to vote or not vote corresponds with an academic understanding of political empowerment and suggests that choosing not to vote may represent a type of political empowerment. Social work interventions related to voting for this population could include reducing stigma around government assistance, voter engagement, and work with systems to recognize the political power of those who are often left out of the process.

Determining the Impact of Access to Healthcare on Voter Behavior: A Scale Development Study

“…Bireysel deneyimler ve seçmen davranışı: Bireylerin kendi sağlık deneyimleri, oy verme davranışları üzerinde belirleyici olabilir. Örneğin, bir bireyin veya ailesinin sağlık hizmetlerinden memnuniyeti ya da bu hizmetlere erişimde yaşadığı zorluklar, bu bireyin seçimlerde hangi partiye veya adaya oy vereceğine etki edebilir (Sandler & Lane, 2021).…”