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Empowerment theory suggests that changes in beliefs and attitudes contribute to the participation of individuals in social change and assumes that individuals will work for the collective good if they develop a sense of critical consciousness. This article tests the application of this theory with a sample of 73 Latino undergraduate university students. Results from an experiment focusing on ethnic identity and consciousness suggest a direct effect of consciousness on the cognitive aspects of political empowerment but not on its behavioral aspects. This finding supports the assumptions of empowerment theory and suggests a need for a more complex understanding of this concept.
Lorraine Gutiérrez (Fri,) studied this question.