Dimensions of Alienation Among Manual and Non-Manual Workers Author(s): Arthur G.

Neal and Salomon Rettig Reviewed work(s): Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Aug., 1963), pp. 599-608 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2090075 . Accessed: 17/03/2012 20:07
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DIMENSIONS OF ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS

ARTHUR G. NEAL SALOMONRETTIG

Bowling GreenState University

The OhioState University

The pervasive use of the alienation framework in interpretative sociological works has generated a need for empirical studies of alienation itself. Empirical measures of powerlessness and normlessness are developed for political and economic areas, following the leads provided by Seeman's conceptual analysis. The alienation scales developed in the present study are combined with Srole's anomie scale and Seeman's status-orientation scale for factor analyses. The findings provide empirical support for Seeman's argument for the conceptual independence of alternative meanings of alienation, but do not support the sociological works hypothesizing significant relationships between mobility commitments and alienation. A high degree of similarity is found in the dimensional structure of alienation for samples of manual and non-manual workers.

THE alienation themein analysesof con- goal attainment. Presumably,the individual's

temporarysociety has become so prominent that Robert Nisbet has described alienation as a perspective rather than a concept.1 As a perspective, alienation has come to have a rich diversity of meanings in both the forms that it may take and the social levels at which it may be studied. Melvin Seeman has clarified the meaning of alienation by postulating five key components-powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement.2 Seeman's analysis is oriented toward operationalizing these components of alienation in social learning terms, chiefly through the notions of "expectancy" and "reward value." The present study will be limited to powerlessness and normlessness. While alienation may be studied at social levels ranging from the total society to interpersonal relations, our concern is with personal estrangement in the areas of business and government. Following Seeman's suggestive lead, powerlessness is operationalized as a low expectancy for control over the outcome of political and economicevents; normlessness, as a high expectancy that socially unapproved behavior is required in
I Robert A. Nisbet, The Quest for Community, New York: Oxford University Press, 1953. 2 Melvin Seeman, "On the Meaning of Aliena-

expectancy for control over events may vary independently of his expectancy for the hold of norms over conduct. The conceptions of alienation in Seeman's work are conjectured to be distinct from the notion of anomie as developed in Leo Srole's analysis.3 Srole's anomie scale has been described by Meier and Bell as a measure of "personal demoralization,utter hopelessness and discouragement." 4 On an a priori basis, Srole's measure of personal demoralization and despair would appear to vary independently of a scale designed to measure the expectancies for unapproved behavior in business and government. Normlessness, as developed in the present analysis, denotes expediency, cynicism, and distrust, rather than a feeling of "utter hopelessness and discouragement." Although Seemanhas excluded Srole's conception of anomie from his analysis, the basic problem remains of determining the empirical dimensions of the various forms of alienation. Among the questions to be explored are the folowing: Is there a generalized dimension underlying the alternative meanings of alienation? Or, is the problem one of making the alienation referents more specific? While Seeman argues for the conceptual independence of the different mean3 Leo Srole, "Social Integration and Certain Corollaries," American Sociological Review, 21 (December, 1956), pp. 709-716. 4 Dorothy L. Meier and Wendell Bell, "Anomie and the Achievement of Life Goals," American Socioloeical Review. 24 (Anril. 1959). pp. 189-202.

tion," AmericanSociological Review, 24 (December, 1959), pp. 783-791. For a critique of Seeman's failure to systematize the five meanings as interrerelated elements of a single concept called alienation, see Charles J. Browning, et al., "On the Meaning of Alienation," American Sociological Review, 26 (October, 1961), pp. 780-781. 599

600

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW commitment. If Strodtbeck's position is correct, the factor analysis should show statusorientation items loading negatively on the powerlessness dimension. If Fromm is supported, the results should show status-orientation items loading positively on the powerlessness dimension. Of course, a third possibility is that status striving and powerlessness will form separate dimensions. Finally, in view of the historical emphasis on social stratification as a critical variable associated with the formation and expression of alienation, separate analyses will be made for manual and non-manual workers: the white-collar worker is often overwhelmedby the growing complexity of political and economic events beyond his control; manual workerstend to impute extraordinarydegrees of power and control to those who occupy key positions in the bureaucratic organizations of government and industry. If so, the results should reflect this difference in the dimensionality of powerlessness as manifested by manual and non-manual workers. Similarly, stratification variables are held to be significantly related to degrees and kinds of normlessness. For instance, Merton maintains that the heavy emphasis placed on success goals is related to the use of expedient, though normatively prohibited, means in their attainment. Merton assumes that the incentives for success pervade all levels of the class structure and that those at the lower socio-economiclevels must turn to illegitimate means for reachingthese goals, since the more legitimate means are less accessible.7 On the other hand, Sutherland noted that, although less visible, normlessness also occurs in white-collar occupations. Often the crimes of businessmen are not prosecuted
7 Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Glencoe: The Free Press, 1957, pp. 131194. Hyman has modified Merton's analysis by pointing out that the limited opportunities for upward mobility at the lower socioeconomic levels is accompanied by a reduced emphasis upon statusmobility goals. See Herbert H. Hyman, "The Value Systems of Different Classes," in R. Bendix and S. M. Lipset (eds.), Class, Status, and Power, Glencoe: The Free Press, 1953, pp. 426-442. Cloward has suggested that even illegitimate means may not be effective in achieving success for the lower status levels. See Richard A. Cloward, "Illegitimate Means, Anomie, and Deviant Behavior," American Sociological Review, 24 (April, 1959), pp. 164-176.

ings of alienation, it becomes important to know if his position can be supported empirically. The major objective of the present research is to implement and extend Seeman's work by developing measures of powerlessness and normlessness,and submitting them to factor analysis for tests of dimensional orthogonality. Following Seeman's lead, a three dimensional structure is hypothesized. Powerlessness, conceptualized as a low expectancy for personal control of political and economic events, will form a dimension which is separate from Srole's anomie measure. Normlessness, conceptualized as a high expectancy for socially unapprovedbehavior will, in turn, be empirically independent of both powerlessness and anomie. Sociologists generally regard alienation as bearing a direct relationship to certain dominant value-orientations of the "open-class" society, particularly that of vertical mobility and career advancement. Recent analyses have postulated contradictory relationships, however, between the mobility goals of Americans and feelings of powerlessness.On the one hand, Fred Strodtbeck has maintained that an achievement-orientation in terms of both performanceand commitment, is positively related to a sense of personal control. Cultural values emphasizing individual mastery are coherently related to an emphasis on achievement and personal responsibility. The individual becomes accountable for his own destiny.5 On the other hand, Erich Fromm regardspowerlessnessas a necessary consequenceof status striving. Fromm maintains that the individual loses a sense of mastery and personal control through instrumentalizing himself in an intense mobility commitment. Since mobility often requires a sacrifice of personal autonomy, the status-striver tends to objectify himself into a marketablecommodity.6 In view of the above apparent contradiction, we decided to include a measure of status-orientation to test the hypothesized relationshipsbetween alienation and mobility
5 Fred Strodtbeck, "Family Interaction, Values, and Achievement," in David C. McClelland (ed.), Talent and Society, Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1958, pp. 135-191. 6 Erich Fromm, The Sane Society, New York: Rinehart, 1955, pp. 120-152.

ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS because they are not detected. Among those detected, prosecution seldom follows because of the status of the businessmanor the trend away from punishment in these cases. Such a high degree of immunity from legal sanctions, Sutherland argued, increased the likelihood of normlessbehaviorfor businessmen.6 These viewpoints on normative breakdown raise two major possibilities for the present analysis: first, that there is a difference in the prominence of normlessness, relative to other aspects of alienation, among manual as compared to non-manual workers; and second, that the relationship of normlessness to occupational position is not so much a difference in prominence as a difference in the type of normlessness manifested. While manual workers would be expected to stress the necessity of force, coercion, and violence, non-manual workers are expected to emphasize normless behavior which is nonphysical in nature, such as the use of fraud, deception, and misrepresentation. In sum, our purpose is (1) to develop measures of powerlessnessand normlessness; (2) to test the orthogonality of the powerlessness and normlessness measures from Srole's anomie scale by means of factor analyis; (3) to compare the structure of alienation among manual and non-manual workers; and (4) to determine the relationship of status aspiration to the powerlessness and normlessnessdimensions of alienation.
METHODOLOGY

601

The powerlessnessscale was developed by first listing some of the major political and economic concerns of the contemporary period, including issues relating to war, world opinion, inflation, pressure groups, and control of events by a power elite. After these issues were selected, two statements were constructed to represent expectancies on opposite ends of the powerlessnessdimension.1l Normlessness refers to the expectancy that unethical behavior is required in the attainment of political and economic goals. We derived the items mainly from mass media discussions of unethical practices in industry and government, assuming that the mass media reflect the normative order. The measure of mobility attitudes consisted of a modified short form of Seeman's status-orientation scale. Seeman's scale is primarily a measure of the degree of commitment to competitive mobility goals and the extent to which intrinsic values will be sacrificed to enhance mobility attainment.13 Each of these aspects of status attitude are implicit in the works of Strodtbeck and Fromm. The total sample consisted of 1,094 subjects drawn randomly from the Columbus (O.) City Directory. The data were collected by means of a mailed questionnaire, which, after four appeals, yielded a return of 57.4 per cent. On the basis of occupations listed in the city directory, we determined that 50.4 per cent of the manual
12 For a fuller discussion of the construction of the powerlessness scale, see Arthur G. Neal, Stratification Concomitants of Powerlessness and Normlessness: A Study of Political and Economic Alienation, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1959. A similar measure, which is referred to as the I-E (internal vs. external control) Scale, has been used extensively in the works of the late Prof. S. Liverant and his students of the Department of Psychology at the Ohio State University. For a recent example of the predictive utility of the powerlessness dimension see Melvin Seeman and John W. Evans, "Alienation and Learning in a Hospital Setting," American Sociological Review, 27 (December, 1962), pp. 772-782. 13 Melvin Seeman, "Social Mobility and Administrative Behavior," American Sociological Review, 23 (December, 1958), pp. 633-642. The utility of the status-orientation dimension in predicting prejudice is indicated in the study by Fred B. Silberstein and Melvin Seeman, "Social Mobility and Prejudice," American Journal of Sociology, 65, (November, 1959), pp. 258-264.

None of the several measures of alienation is fully satisfactory for the present study: they fail to distinguish between kinds of alienation,9they lack applicability beyond a specific organization,'0 or they focus on empirical referents outside of political and economic events." The choice of the areas of business and government as the referents for this study is based on the historical application of the alienation concept to political and economicsituations.
8 Edwin H. Sutherland, White Collar Crime, New York: Dryden, 1949. 9 Anthony Davids, "Alienation, Social Apperception, and Ego Structure," Journal of Consulting Psychology, 19 (1955), pp. 21-27. 10 John P. Clark, "Measuring Alienation Within a Social System," American Sociological Review, 24 (December, 1959), pp. 848-852. 11 Dwight G. Dean, "Alienation and Political Apathy," Social Forces, 38 (1960), pp. 185-189.

602

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW Separate principal factor analyses were conducted on the manual and non-manual workers, and nine orthogonal factors were extracted in each sample. The extracted factors were then computer rotated in accordance with the varimax criterion of simple structure. The results of this analysis may be noted in Table 1.

workersand 66.5 per cent of the non-manual workers returned the mailed questionnaire. Fifty non-respondents were interviewed to compare-in terms of alienation-those who returned the mailed questionnaire with those who did not. No significant differences were found in either powerlessness or normlessness scores.

TABLE 1. VARIMAX ROTATEDFACTORSTRUCTURE

Factor Loading Alienation and Status-Orientation Dimensions Powerlessness A lasting world peace can be achieved by those of us who work toward it. x There's very little we can do to bring about a permanent world peace
x

Non-Manual (N=301) (Factor I) .67

Manual (N1302) (Factor VIII) -.29

It is only wishful thinking to believe that one can really influence what happens in society at large. People like me can change the course of world events if we make ourselves heard.

.63

-.62

Wars between countries seem inevitable despite the efforts of men to prevent them. __Wars between countries can be avoided. x
x

.63

.02

More and more, I feel helpless in the face of what's happening in the world today. I sometimes feel personally to blame for the sad state of affairs in our government. There's very little that people like myself can do to improve world opinion of the United States. I think each of us can do a great deal to improve world opinion of the United States. This world is run by the few people in power, and there is not much the little guy can do about it. The average citizen can have an influence on government decisions. I think we have adequate means for preventing run-away inflation. There's very little we can do to keep prices from going higher. By studying the world situation, one can greatly increase his political effectiveness. Whether one like it or not, chance plays an awfully large pait in world events. Persons like myself have little chance of protecting our personal interests when they conflict with those of strong pressure groups. I feel that we have adequate ways of coping with pressure groups. The international situation is so complex that it just confuses a person to think about it. Active discussion of politics can eventually lead to a better world. There's little use in writing to public officials because often they aren't really interested in the problems of the average man.

.60

-.45

.55

5i

.54 .50

--.56 -.19

.48

-.58

x x

.2

-.24

.33

--.

.l

-.50

Those who do not vote are largely responsible for bad government. There's little use for me to vote, since one vote doesn't count very much anyway.

09

=4

ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS

TABLE

603

1, Continued Factor Loading Manual Non-Manual (Factor II) (Factor III) .75 .72 .69 .63 .59 -.74 -.73 .70 55
-.35

Alienation and Status-Orientation Dimensions Anomie In spite of what some people say, the lot of the average man is getting worse. It's hardly fair to bring children into the world the way things look for the future. These days a person doesn't really know whom he can count on. Nowadays a person has to live pretty much for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. There's little use in writing to public officials because often they aren't really interested in the problems of the average man. Political Normlessness: The Necessity of Force and Fraud in Government Those running our government must hush up many things that go on behind the scenes, if they wish to stay in office. Having "pull" is more important than ability in getting a government job. In order to get elected to public office, a candidate must make promises he does not intend to keep. Those elected to public office have to serve special interests (e.g., big business or labor as well as the public's interest.) In getting a job promotion, some degree of "apple polishing" is required. In getting a good paying job, it's necessary to exaggerate one's abilities (or personal merits). In order to have a good income, a salesman must use high pressure salesmanship. Economic Normlessness: The Necessity of Force and Fraud in Business Success in business and politics can easily be achieved without taking advantage of gullible people.* In getting a good paying job, it's necessary to exaggerate one's abilities (orpersonalmerits). In order to have a good income, a salesman must use high pressure salesmanship. For a strike to be effective, picket line violence is necessary. One can be successful in business without compromising moral principles.* A newspaper can build up its circulation without making news events (i.e., crime stories) seem more sensational than they really are.*

(Factor V) .67 .60 .60 .58 .51 .29 .29

(Factor I) .66 .71 .55 .56 .62 .56 .44

(Factor VII) -.61 -.59 -.53 -.49 -.49

(Factor VII) .55 .31 .09 .02 .60

-.24

.71

Competitive Mobility-Orientation The man who says he isn't out to "get ahead" in his field or job is either kidding himself or trying to kid others. Generally speaking, if a person stays on in one of the smaller jobs for many years, it's likely he wouldn't be much even if he got promoted. It's worth considerable effort to assure one's self of a good name with the right kind of people. I wouldn't take a promotion, no matter how big an improvement it was for me, if it meant endangering my health.*
* Reverse scoring.

(Factor IX) .67

(Factor VI) .51

.63 .53 -.15

.31 .68 -.45

604

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW
TABLE

1, Continued Factor Loading Non-Manual Manual (Factor IV) (Factor IV) .71 .62 .42 .63

Alienation and Status-Orientation Dimensions Mobility-Commitment Relative to Intrinsic Values I wouldn't take a promotion, no matter how big an improvement it was for me, if it meant endangering my health.* I'd probably turn down a substantial advancement if it involved being away from the family a good deal.* I'd be all in favor of staying with a job that might never get me much prestige as a "big shot" but was a good bet as far as peace of mind is concerned.* I'd turn down a job that might be a real stepping stone, if the people doing the hiring had a reputation of wanting somebody who would go along with their ideas.* I would probably turn down a position that would leave me less freedom to express my views on political matters.* Mobility-Commitment Relative to Communal Values I wouldn't let my friendship ties in a community stand in the way of moving on to a better job. I wouldn't let being a "stranger" for a while keep me from moving, every so often, to a higher position in a new community. I really prefer to put my roots in solid in a community, rather than move as the chances for advancement come along. I've more or less had a long-range plan for myself, and moving every now and then to get new experience is part of it. Political Alienation (Non-Manual) Inevitability of War (Manual) _ Those who do not vote are largely responsible for bad government. x There's little use for me to vote, since one vote doesn't count very much anyway. A person must be of high moral character if he wishes to be successful in politics.* _With enough effort we can wipe out political corruption. x Some political corruption is a necessary evil of government. x Wars between countries seem inevitable despite the efforts of men to prevent them. _ Wars between countries can be avoided. _A lasting world peace can be achieved by those of us who work toward it. x There's very little we can do to bring about a permanent world peace. Personal Freedom and Responsibility (Non-Manual) Planing and Control (Manual) I would probably turn down a position that would leave me less freedom to express my views on political matters.* I'd turn down a job that might be a real stepping stone, if the people doing the hiring had a reputation of wanting somebody who would go along with their ideas.* One thing that would keep me from moving up is the thought of the increased responsibility breathing down your neck in the better jobs.* For a strike to be effective, picket-line violence is necessary. I think we have adequate means for preventing run-away inflation. x There's very little we can do to keep prices from going higher. I've more or less had a long-range plan for myself, and moving every now and then to get new experience is part of it.
* Reverse scoring.

.54 .01 .12 (Factor II) .73 .70 .67 .45 (Factor VIII) .54

.46 .62 .48 (Factor IV) .58 .74 .71 .44 (Factor III) .09

.49 .46 -.26

.11 .43 .76

-.01

.52

(Factor VI) -.61

(Factor IX) .13

-57
-49

.19 .07 -.55 -.54

.06 .13

.30

-.45

NOTE: All items with loadings below .40 for both the manual and the non-manual were excluded from this table.

ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

605

Table 1 presents the rotated factor structure of alienation and status aspiration measures for both the manual and the nonmanual samples. The findings support the hypothesized independence of the various alienation measures. In both the manual and the non-manual categories, powerlessness, normlessness, and Srole's anomie scale emerged as separate and unrelated dimensions. These findings provide support for Seeman's argument for an initial separation of the alternative meanings of alienation. The items loading on the powerlessness dimension (Factor I for the non-manual and Factor VIII for the manual) refer to the sense of mastery over political and economic events. The basic expectancy of this dimension is that the outcome of political and economic events depends upon conditions that cannot be adequately controlled. It is assumed that capabilities are limited and that even concerted effort is doomed to failure or at least subjected to unforseen consequences. In its extreme form, powerlessnessis equivalent to fatalism, which implies that the individual's condition is one of confrontingand adjusting to certain inevitabilities. In a lesser form, powerlessness involves the view that events are controllable, but not by persons like one's self. On the other hand, normlessness (Factors V and VII for the non-manual and Factors I and VII for the manual) refers to the subjectively held probability that violations of social norms are necessary for attaining socially approved goals. Implicitly, this involves a moral judgment on one's society, in terms of the degree to which pressures are exerted toward unethical conduct. The perception of normlessness in business and government is to say that society's moral standards have, to some extent, lost their hold over conduct in these areas. Thus, norms are regarded as carrying weak sanction, and behavior, as a consequence, loses its predictability. For the normless person, socially approved alternatives are viewed as relatively ineffective, and the consequent necessity of unapproved behavior in goal attainment is emphasized. The normlessness items were separated into two major orthogonal factors in both

samples. Upon inspection of the item content of these factors, it appears that their independence manifests primarily a separation of normlessness in government from normlessness in business. The emergence of these separate normlessness factors may be accounted for by the mass media emphasis on the ethical faults of public officials, while playing down those of businessmen; by the political expediency of exposing the party in power; and by the economic ideology that emphasizes the autonomy of each of these institutional areas. The expectancy of normlessnessin government goes beyond the factual observation that unethical practices do occur among government officials and political aspirants. Instead, it implies that unethical behavior is not limited to deviate or atypical personalities, but is symptomatic of the way the political system works. Fraud and hypocrisy are regarded as necessary for the successful political career. Thus, from the individual's standpoint, political goals and normative means are weakly integrated, and political leaders are viewed with cynicism and distrust.14

Economic normlessness (Factor VII) refers to the imperative of force and fraud in business. In an extreme form, this aspect of normlessness is manifested in a competitive "jungle-like" philosophy resembling Hobbes' portrait of man in a state of nature. Each man competes with other men for desired but scarce economic goals without the restraining influence of social norms. It is expected that neither organizational nor individual goals can be achieved without the use of misrepresentation, coercion, or violence. Legitimate authority is regarded as relatively ineffective, and it is expected that the outcome of economic events is based on the use of deception and the mobilization of power. The latent separation of the powerlessness and normlessness factors from Srole's anomie scale, for both the manual and the non-manual samples, suggests that the a
14 C. Wright Mills implies that there is a high degree of realism in the perception of the control of political events by a morally irresponsible power elite. See C. Wright Mills, "The Higher Immorality," in The Power Elite, New York: Oxford University Press, 1956, pp. 343-361.

606
priori assumption of

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW
congruence among

these dimensions of alienation is unwarranted. The measures of powerlessness and normlessnessin political and economic areas should not be interpreted as equivalents of the condition of despair and personal maladjustment measured by Srole's scale. While the factor analyses provide an empirical test for the orthogonality of these dimensions within each sample, they do not
TABLE

factor structure for the manual and nonmanual workers.The hypothesized structural independenceof powerlessness,normlessness, and Srole's anomie scale is supported for each sample. The differences that do occur in the factorial structure of these dimensions relate primarily to the generality of the powerlessness and normlessness factors and to the specific item content of these dimensions.
FACTOR STRUCTURES AMONG,

2.

NORMALIZED

TRANSFORMATION MATRIX (La) OF ALIENATION WORKERS MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL

Manual (N=302) Factors Non-Manual (N=301) V III VIII II IV IX VII I VI I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

.98 .00 .08 -.04 -.14 .24 -.43 .01 .00 Manual

.13 -.92 .24 -.03 -.05 .04 .16 -.07 -.22

.11 -.16 -.12 .12 .11 -.07 .13 .67 -.06

-.05 .05 .02 .99 .09 .11 .05 .03 .09

-.03 -.06 -.05 -.04 .83 .07 -.07 .08 -.59

.07 -.02 -.42 .00 -.25 .87 .05 .00 -.20

-.06 .10 .45 .05 .12 -.10 -.69 -.08 -.12

.00 -.31 -.73 .04 .26 -.24 -.05 -.71 .41

.05 -.09 .07 .05 -.36 -.31 .53 -.13 -.61

Non-Manual V. III. VIII. II. IV. IX. VII. I. VI. Political Normlessness Anomie Political Alienation Communal Values Intrinsic Values Competitive Mobility Economic Normlessness Powerlessness Freedom and Responsibility

I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX .

Political Normlessness Anomie Inevitability of War Communal Values Intrinsic Values Competitive Mobility Economic Normlessness Powerlessness Planning and Control

provide a test of the similarity of factorial structure between samples. Drawing upon the technique developed by Ahmavara,15 the factors were submitted to a transformation analysis to determine the degree of similarity of these alienation dimensions for the manual as compared to the non-manual workers. Inspection of both Tables 1 and 2 indicates a basic similarity of the alienation
15 From Yrjo Ahmavara, "Transformation Analysis of Factorial Data," Annales Academiae Scientarum Fennicae, 1954, B 88, 2, Helsinki, Finland. The main diagonal entries represent 'invariance coefficients' of the separate dimensions, derived from the transformation matrix L= (X'X)-1 (X'Y), where X and Y represent the two entire factor matrices of the manual and non-manual workers.

While political and economic normlessness are separated for each occupational category, for manual workers the spheres of political and economic enterprise appear to be more closely interwoven. The breakdown of norms in business and the breakdown of norms in government are more nearly components of a similar process. The higher generality of normlessness for the manual worker may be due to the tendency at the lower socio-economic levels to attribute the rises and falls of the prosperity level to governmental policies. Further, the position of the manual worker is subordinate to that of the successful businessman and to that of the political official. His subordinate position in the

ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS power structure may account for his perceived generality of political and economic normlessness. The subordinate position of the manual worker may also account for a somewhat more specific form of economic normlessness. The specific content of economic normlessness for the manual worker reflects the theme of exploitation as necessary for success in business. Apparently, the manual workers feel themselves the objects of manipulation and deception. The occupational differences in factorial structure become more apparent on highly specific factors of political alienation (Factor VIII for the non-manual and Factor III for the manual). The political alienation factors do not seem to indicate pure powerlessness or normlessness, but combine both aspects in relation to specific events, such as voting, political corruption, and war and peace. The item pertaining to the inevitability of corruption among government officials loads significantly for each sample. But, the concomitant attitudes of those who hold expectancies for political corruption vary by social class position. For the manual workers, the expectancy for political corruption is correlated with the perceived inevitability of war. This specific dimension for the manual workers approximates the view that war and peace issues are related to political corruption. On the other hand, for the white-collar sample political corruption is associated with a denial of personal responsibility for the governmental process, suggesting that one's own behavior, such as failure to vote in elections, is regarded as unrelated to political corruption. For them, the issues of war and peace fall clearly under the dimension of powerlessness. In connection with status-mobility commitments, as potentially related to alienation, three relatively independent dimensions of status-orientation emerge. One of these factors is based on the notion of competitive status-striving as inherent in human nature. This includes the assumption that occupational success provides an adequate basis for determining the worth of an individual and that 'getting ahead' is a universal human desire. A second dimension of status-orientation is based on the value placed on mobility relative to communal

607

and friendship ties. This aspect of the mobility commitmentsuggests a severance of intimate ties with friends and with community, insofar as they impede career advancement. A third status-orientation factor consists of the mobility emphasis relative to intrinsic goal commitments. This includes matching the value of job advancement against the values of family, health, peace of mind, and intrinsic satisfaction with one's work. Thus on an a priori basis, there were numerous possibilities of finding support for the hypothesized relationships between status-orientation and the alienation variables. From the present data, none of these possible relationships was obtained for either the manual or the non-manual samples. Neither the positive correlations between mobility commitment and powerlessness, postulated by Fromm, nor the inverse relationship hypothesized by Strodtbeck was supported in the present analysis. In similar fashion, neither the acceptance nor the rejection of mobility values was related to normlessness. Thus, on the basis of present findings, we must tentatively reject the hypothesized relationships between mobility commitments and the powerlessness and normlessness aspects of alienation, or further specify the conditions under which such relationships will be obtained. It is likely that statistically significant relationshipsbetween mobility commitments, powerlessness, and normlessness will be found if the variables of opportunity, career history, and organizational membership are taken into account. A theoretical specification of these conditions, however, is beyond the scope of this paper. To some extent, the lack of a relationship between mobility values and alienation in the present study may be due to the relative absence of any alienation component in the conceptualization of the status-orientation scale. The format of the items involve a choice among socially approved alternatives. Commitment to the intrinsic values of family and community, or to personal freedom and security, as alternatives to job advancement are socially acceptable and do not constitute any of the major forms of alienation. The independence of status-orientation from the alienation factors opens

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AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEW tion was associated with the inevitability of war; for the non-manualpolitical corruption was associated with a denial of personal responsibility for the governmental decisionmaking process. The normlessness scale consisted of a measure of the expectancy for unapproved behavior in business and government. It conveys the implication of cynicism and distrust in social relationships as a result of the low expectancy for normative compliance. The dimension of normlessness carries a somewhat higher degree of generality for the manual workers,though its political components are relatively independent of its economic components for each sample. None of the various hypothesized relationships between mobility commitmentsand alienation are supported in the present factorial study. This finding suggests that it is necessary to further specify the conditions for hypothesizing a relationship between status-orientationand alienation. The basic tasks remain of identifying the antecedent conditions from which powerlessness and normlessness stem, and of determining the effectiveness of the alienation variables in predicting the extent and quality of participation in the various areas of social life.

up the future possibility of utilizing these measures in multivariate analyses of the conditions generatingalienation in its various forms.
SUMMARY

We found empirical support for Seeman's argument for a conceptual separation of alternative meanings of alienation. In separate factor analyses of community-wide samples of manual and non-manualworkers, the powerlessness and normlessness dimensions emerged as orthogonal to Srole's anomie scale. The independence of these dimensions suggests that alienation may also exist in forms other than those manifesting maladjustment and personality disorders. Attention is also called to the importance of making the empirical referents specific in the use of alienation framework. The powerlessness scale referred to the expectancy for control over the outcome of political and economic events. The factor analyses show a high degree of similarity in the structure of powerlessness for manual as compared to non-manualworkers, though some differences were noted in the loadings of specific items on the powerlessness dimensions. Among manual workers the perceived inability to control political corrup-