The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether the process of political socialization as the transmission of the political culture through schools contributes to the persistence of the American political system in the black community. One hundred and sixty black urban and suburban individuals over age 18 comprised the sample population. Their mean length of schooling was 13.1 years. The study concluded that blacks do respond on two distinct socio-cultural levels; the individual and the systemic or collective, in each of the selected areas. This collective response is historico-cultural in nature and responds to the systemic cultural orientation of the political culture. The study concluded that years of schooling is related to the political mobility of blacks. The study also concluded that the reaction on a collective socio-cultural level to the systemic political culture is more a factor in nonparticipation than fewer years of schooling. Finally, the resultant nonparticipation, cultural dissonance and collective level transference does contribute to the persistence of the institutional political culture in the black community. (Author/AM)