Dimensions of Alienation Among Manual and Non-Manual Workers

8/13/2019 Dimensions of Alienation Among Manual and Non-Manual Workers

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Dimensions of Alienation Among Manual and Non-Manual WorkersAuthor(s): Arthur G. Neal and Salomon RettigReviewed work(s):Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Aug., 1963), pp. 599-608Published by: American Sociological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2090075.

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DIMENSIONS OF ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL ANDNON-MANUAL WORKERSARTHUR G. NEAL SALOMONRETTIGBowling GreenState University The OhioState University

The pervasive use of the alienation framework in interpretative sociological works has gen-erated a need for empirical studies of alienation itself. Empirical measures of powerlessnessand normlessness are developed for political and economic areas, following the leads pro-vided by Seeman's conceptual analysis. The alienation scales developed in the present studyare combined with Srole's anomie scale and Seeman's status-orientation scale for factoranalyses. The findings provide empirical support for Seeman's argument for the conceptualindependence of alternative meanings of alienation, but do not support the sociological workshypothesizing significant relationships between mobility commitments and alienation. A highdegree of similarity is found in the dimensional structure of alienation for samples of manualand non-manual workers.

THE alienation heme n analysesof con-temporarysociety has become so promi-nent that Robert Nisbet has describedalienation as a perspective rather than a con-cept.1 As a perspective, alienation has cometo have a rich diversity of meanings in boththe forms that it may take and the sociallevels at which it may be studied.Melvin Seeman has clarified the meaningof alienation by postulating five keycomponents-powerlessness, meaninglessness,normlessness, isolation, and self-estrange-ment.2 Seeman's analysis is oriented towardoperationalizing these componentsof aliena-tion in social learning terms, chiefly throughthe notions of expectancy and rewardvalue. The present study will be limited topowerlessness and normlessness.While alienation may be studied at sociallevels ranging from the total society to in-terpersonal relations, our concern is withpersonal estrangementin the areas of busi-ness and government. Following Seeman'ssuggestive lead, powerlessness is operation-alized as a low expectancy for control overthe outcome of political andeconomicevents;normlessness, as a high expectancy that so-cially unapproved behavior is required in

goal attainment. Presumably, the individual'sexpectancy for control over events may varyindependentlyof his expectancy for the holdof norms over conduct.The conceptions of alienation in Seeman'swork are conjectured to be distinct from thenotion of anomie as developed in Leo Srole'sanalysis.3 Srole's anomie scale has been de-scribed by Meier and Bell as a measure ofpersonal demoralization, utter hopelessnessand discouragement. On an a priori basis,Srole's measure of personal demoralizationand despair would appear to vary independ-ently of a scale designed to measure the ex-pectancies for unapproved behavior in busi-ness and government. Normlessness, as de-veloped in the present analysis, denotes ex-pediency, cynicism, and distrust, rather thana feeling of utter hopelessnessand discour-

agement.Although Seeman has excluded Srole's con-ception of anomie from his analysis, the basicproblem remains of determining the empir-ical dimensions of the various forms ofalienation. Among the questions to be ex-plored are the folowing: Is there a general-ized dimension underlying the alternativemeanings of alienation? Or, is the problemone of making the alienation referents morespecific? While Seeman argues for the con-ceptual independenceof the different mean-

I Robert A. Nisbet, The Quest for Community,New York: Oxford University Press, 1953.2 Melvin Seeman, On the Meaning of Aliena-tion, AmericanSociologicalReview, 24 (Decem-ber, 1959), pp. 783-791. For a critique of Seeman'sfailure to systematize the five meanings as interre-related elements of a single concept called aliena-tion, see Charles J. Browning, et al., On the Mean-ing of Alienation, American Sociological Review,26 (October, 1961), pp. 780-781.

3 Leo Srole, Social Integration and Certain Cor-ollaries, American Sociological Review, 21 (De-cember, 1956), pp. 709-716.4 Dorothy L. Meier and Wendell Bell, Anomieand the Achievement of Life Goals, American So-cioloeical Review. 24 (Anril. 1959). pp. 189-202.599


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600 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEWings of alienation, it becomes important toknow if his position can be supported em-pirically.The major objective of the present re-search is to implementand extend Seeman'swork by developing measures of powerless-ness and normlessness, and submitting themto factor analysis for tests of dimensionalorthogonality. Following Seeman's lead, athree dimensionalstructure is hypothesized.Powerlessness, conceptualized as a low ex-pectancy for personal control of politicaland economic events, will form a dimensionwhich is separate from Srole'sanomie meas-ure. Normlessness, conceptualizedas a highexpectancy for socially unapprovedbehaviorwill, in turn, be empirically independent ofboth powerlessnessand anomie.Sociologists generally regard alienation asbearinga direct relationshipto certain domi-nant value-orientations of the open-classsociety, particularlythat of vertical mobilityand career advancement. Recent analyseshave postulated contradictory relationships,however, between the mobility goals ofAmericans and feelings of powerlessness.Onthe one hand, Fred Strodtbeck has main-tained that an achievement-orientation interms of both performanceand commitment,is positively related to a sense of personalcontrol. Cultural values emphasizing indi-vidual mastery are coherently related to anemphasis on achievement and personal re-sponsibility.The individual becomesaccount-able for his own destiny.5On the other hand,Erich Fromm regardspowerlessnessas a nec-essary consequenceof status striving. Frommmaintains that the individual loses a senseof mastery and personal control throughinstrumentalizing himself in an intense mo-bility commitment. Since mobility often re-quires a sacrifice of personal autonomy, thestatus-striver tends to objectify himself intoa marketablecommodity.6In view of the above apparent contradic-tion, we decided to include a measure ofstatus-orientation to test the hypothesizedrelationshipsbetweenalienation and mobility

commitment. If Strodtbeck'sposition is cor-rect, the factor analysis should show status-orientation items loading negatively on thepowerlessness dimension. If Fromm is sup-ported, the results should show status-orien-tation items loading positively on the power-lessness dimension. Of course, a thirdpossibility is that status striving and power-lessness will form separate dimensions.Finally, in view of the historical emphasison social stratification as a critical variableassociated with the formationand expressionof alienation, separate analyses will be madefor manual and non-manual workers: thewhite-collarworker is often overwhelmedbythe growing complexity of political and eco-nomic events beyond his control; manualworkerstend to impute extraordinarydegreesof power and control to those who occupykey positions in the bureaucratic organiza-tions of governmentand industry. If so, theresults should reflect this difference in thedimensionality of powerlessness as mani-fested by manual and non-manual workers.Similarly, stratification variables are heldto be significantly related to degrees andkinds of normlessness. For instance, Mertonmaintains that the heavy emphasis placedon success goals is related to the use of ex-pedient, though normatively prohibited,means in their attainment. Merton assumesthat the incentives for success pervade alllevels of the class structure and that thoseat the lower socio-economic evels must turnto illegitimatemeansfor reaching these goals,since the more legitimate means are less ac-cessible.7On the other hand, Sutherlandnoted that,although less visible, normlessness also oc-curs in white-collar occupations. Often thecrimes of businessmen are not prosecuted

5Fred 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.

7 Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and SocialStructure, Glencoe: The Free Press, 1957, pp. 131-194. Hyman has modified Merton's analysis bypointing out that the limited opportunities for up-ward mobility at the lower socioeconomic levels isaccompanied by a reduced emphasis upon status-mobility goals. See Herbert H. Hyman, The ValueSystems of Different Classes, in R. Bendix andS. M. Lipset (eds.), Class, Status, and Power, Glen-coe: The Free Press, 1953, pp. 426-442. Clowardhas suggested that even illegitimate means may notbe effective in achieving success for the lower statuslevels. See Richard A. Cloward, Illegitimate Means,Anomie, and Deviant Behavior, American Socio-logical Review, 24 (April, 1959), pp. 164-176.


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ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS 601because they are not detected. Among thosedetected, prosecutionseldom follows becauseof the status of the businessmanor the trendaway from punishment in these cases. Sucha high degree of immunity from legal sanc-tions, Sutherlandargued, increased the like-lihoodof normlessbehaviorfor businessmen.6These viewpointson normativebreakdownraise two major possibilities for the presentanalysis: first, that there is a difference inthe prominence of normlessness, relative toother aspects of alienation, among manualas compared to non-manual workers; andsecond, that the relationshipof normlessnessto occupational position is not so much adifference in prominence as a difference inthe type of normlessnessmanifested. Whilemanual workerswould be expected to stressthe necessity of force, coercion,and violence,non-manual workers are expected to em-phasize normless behavior which is non-physical in nature, such as the use of fraud,deception, and misrepresentation.In sum, our purpose is (1) to developmeasuresof powerlessnessand normlessness;(2) to test the orthogonality of the power-lessness and normlessness measures fromSrole's anomie scale by means of factoranalyis; (3) to compare the structure ofalienation among manual and non-manualworkers; and (4) to determinethe relation-ship of status aspirationto the powerlessnessand normlessnessdimensionsof alienation.

METHODOLOGYNone of the several measures of aliena-

tion is fully satisfactory for the presentstudy: they fail to distinguishbetweenkindsof alienation,9they lack applicabilitybeyonda specific organization,'0 or they focus onempirical referents outside of political andeconomicevents. The choice of the areas ofbusiness and government as the referentsfor this study is based on the historical ap-plication of the alienationconcept to politicaland economicsituations.

The powerlessness scale was developedbyfirst listing some of the major political andeconomic concerns of the contemporarype-riod, including issues relating to war, worldopinion, inflation, pressure groups, and con-trol of events by a power elite. After theseissues were selected, two statements wereconstructed to represent expectancies on op-posite ends of the powerlessnessdimension.1lNormlessness refers to the expectancythat unethical behavior is required in theattainment of political and economic goals.We derived the items mainly from massmedia discussions of unethical practices inindustry and government, assuming that themass media reflect the normativeorder.The measure of mobility attitudes con-sisted of a modified short form of Seeman'sstatus-orientation scale. Seeman's scale isprimarily a measure of the degree of com-mitment to competitive mobility goals andthe extent to which intrinsic values will besacrificed to enhance mobility attainment.13Each of these aspects of status attitude areimplicit in the works of Strodtbeck andFromm.The total sample consisted of 1,094 sub-jects drawn randomly from the Columbus(O.) City Directory. The data were col-lected by means of a mailed questionnaire,which, after four appeals, yielded a returnof 57.4 per cent. On the basis of occupa-tions listed in the city directory, we de-termined that 50.4 per cent of the manual

8 Edwin H. Sutherland, White Collar Crime,New York: Dryden, 1949.9 Anthony Davids, Alienation, Social Appercep-tion, and Ego Structure, Journal of ConsultingPsychology, 19 (1955), pp. 21-27.10 John P. Clark, Measuring Alienation Withina Social System, American Sociological Review,24 (December, 1959), pp. 848-852.11Dwight G. Dean, Alienation and PoliticalApathy, Social Forces, 38 (1960), pp. 185-189.

12 For a fuller discussion of the construction ofthe powerlessness scale, see Arthur G. Neal, Strati-fication Concomitants of Powerlessness and Norm-lessness: A Study of Political and Economic Aliena-tion, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University,1959. A similar measure, which is referred to as theI-E (internal vs. external control) Scale, has beenused extensively in the works of the late Prof. S.Liverant and his students of the Department ofPsychology at the Ohio State University. For a re-cent example of the predictive utility of the power-lessness dimension see Melvin Seeman and John W.Evans, Alienation and Learning in a Hospital Set-ting, American Sociological Review, 27 (Decem-ber, 1962), pp. 772-782.13 Melvin Seeman, Social Mobility and Admin-istrative Behavior, American Sociological Review,23 (December, 1958), pp. 633-642. The utility ofthe status-orientation dimension in predicting prej-udice is indicated in the study by Fred B. Silber-stein and Melvin Seeman, Social Mobility andPrejudice, American Journal of Sociology, 65,(November, 1959), pp. 258-264.


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602 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEWworkersand 66.5 per cent of the non-manualworkers returned the mailed questionnaire.Fifty non-respondents were interviewed tocompare-in terms of alienation-thosewho returned the mailed questionnairewiththose who did not. No significantdifferenceswere found in either powerlessnessor norm-lessness scores.

Separate principal factor analyses wereconducted on the manual and non-manualworkers, and nine orthogonal factors wereextracted in each sample. The extractedfactors were then computer rotated in ac-cordance with the varimax criterion ofsimple structure. The results of this an-alysis may be noted in Table 1.TABLE 1. VARIMAX ROTATEDFACTORSTRUCTURE

Factor LoadingNon-Manual ManualAlienation and Status-Orientation Dimensions (N=301) (N1302)

Powerlessness (Factor I) (Factor VIII)A lasting world peace can be achieved by those of us who worktoward it. .67 -.29x There's very little we can do to bring about a permanent worldpeace

x It is only wishful thinking to believe that one can really influencewhat happens in society at large. .63 -.62People like me can change the course of world events if we makeourselves heard.

x Wars between countries seem inevitable despite the efforts of mento prevent them. .63 .02

__Wars between countries can be avoided.x More and more, I feel helpless in the face of what's happening in

the world today. .60 -.45I sometimes feel personally to blame for the sad state of affairs inour government.

x There's very little that people like myself can do to improve worldopinion of the United States. .55 5iI think each of us can do a great deal to improve world opinionof the United States.

x This world is run by the few people in power, and there is not muchthe little guy can do about it. .54 --.56The average citizen can have an influence on government decisions.I think we have adequate means for preventing run-away inflation. .50 -.19

x There's very little we can do to keep prices from going higher.By studying the world situation, one can greatly increase his politi-cal effectiveness. .48 -.58

x Whether one like it or not, chance plays an awfully large pait inworld events.

x Persons like myself have little chance of protecting our personalinterests when they conflict with those of strong pressure groups. .2 -.24I feel that we have adequate ways of coping with pressure groups.

x The international situation is so complex that it just confuses aperson to think about it. .33 --.Active discussion of politics can eventually lead to a better world.There's little use in writing to public officials because often theyaren't really interested in the problems of the average man. .l -.50Those who do not vote are largely responsible for bad government. 09 =4

x There's little use for me to vote, since one vote doesn't count verymuch anyway.


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ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS 603TABLE 1, Continued

Alienation and Status-Orientation Dimensions Factor LoadingNon-Manual ManualAnomie (Factor III) (Factor II)In spite of what some people say, the lot of the average man isgetting worse. .75 -.74It's hardly fair to bring children into the world the way thingslook for the future. .72 -.73These days a person doesn't really know whom he can count on. .69 .70Nowadays a person has to live pretty much for today and lettomorrow take care of itself. .63 55There's little use in writing to public officials because often theyaren't really interested in the problems of the average man. .59 -.35

Political Normlessness: The Necessity ofForce and Fraud in Government (Factor V) (Factor I)

Those running our government must hush up many things that goon behind the scenes, if they wish to stay in office. .67 .66Having pull is more important than ability in getting a govern-ment job. .60 .71In order to get elected to public office, a candidate must makepromises he does not intend to keep. .60 .55Those elected to public office have to serve special interests (e.g.,big business or labor as well as the public's interest.) .58 .56In getting a job promotion, some degree of apple polishing isrequired. .51 .62In getting a good paying job, it's necessary to exaggerate one'sabilities (or personal merits). .29 .56In order to have a good income, a salesman must use high pressuresalesmanship. .29 .44

Economic Normlessness: The Necessityof Force and Fraud in Business (Factor VII) (Factor VII)Success in business and politics can easily be achieved without takingadvantage of gullible people.* -.61 .55In getting a good paying job, it's necessary to exaggerate one'sabilities (orpersonalmerits). -.59 .31In order to have a good income, a salesman must use high pressuresalesmanship. -.53 .09For a strike to be effective, picket line violence is necessary. -.49 .02One can be successful in business without compromising moralprinciples.* -.49 .60A newspaper can build up its circulation without making newsevents (i.e., crime stories) seem more sensational than they reallyare.* -.24 .71

Competitive Mobility-Orientation (Factor IX) (Factor VI)The man who says he isn't out to get ahead in his field or job iseither kidding himself or trying to kid others. .67 .51Generally speaking, if a person stays on in one of the smaller jobsfor many years, it's likely he wouldn't be much even if he gotpromoted. .63 .31It's worth considerable effort to assure one's self of a good namewith the right kind of people. .53 .68I wouldn't take a promotion, no matter how big an improvementit was for me, if it meant endangering my health.* -.15 -.45

* Reverse scoring.


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604 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEWTABLE 1, Continued

Alienation and Status-Orientation Dimensions Factor LoadingNon-Manual ManualMobility-Commitment Relative to Intrinsic Values (Factor IV) (Factor IV)I wouldn't take a promotion, no matter how big an improvementit was for me, if it meant endangering my health.* .71 .42I'd probably turn down a substantial advancement if it involvedbeing away from the family a good deal.* .62 .63I'd be all in favor of staying with a job that might never get memuch prestige as a big shot but was a good bet as far as peaceof mind is concerned.* .54 .46I'd turn down a job that might be a real stepping stone, if thepeople doing the hiring had a reputation of wanting somebodywho would go along with their ideas.* .01 .62I would probably turn down a position that would leave me lessfreedom to express my views on political matters.* .12 .48

Mobility-Commitment Relative to Communal Values (Factor II) (Factor IV)I wouldn't let my friendship ties in a community stand in the wayof moving on to a better job. .73 .58I wouldn't let being a stranger for a while keep me from moving,every so often, to a higher position in a new community. .70 .74I really prefer to put my roots in solid in a community, ratherthan move as the chances for advancement come along. .67 .71I've more or less had a long-range plan for myself, and movingevery now and then to get new experience is part of it. .45 .44

Political Alienation (Non-Manual)Inevitability of War (Manual) (Factor VIII) (Factor III)_ Those who do not vote are largely responsible for bad government. .54 .09

x There's little use for me to vote, since one vote doesn't count verymuch anyway.A person must be of high moral character if he wishes to be suc-cessful in politics.* .49 .11

_With enough effort we can wipe out political corruption.x Some political corruption is a necessary evil of government. .46 .43x Wars between countries seem inevitable despite the efforts of men

to prevent them. -.26 .76_ Wars between countries can be avoided.

_A lasting world peace can be achieved by those of us who worktoward it. -.01 .52x There's very little we can do to bring about a permanent worldpeace.

Personal Freedom and Responsibility (Non-Manual)Planing and Control (Manual) (Factor VI) (Factor IX)I would probably turn down a position that would leave me lessfreedom to express my views on political matters.* -.61 .13I'd turn down a job that might be a real stepping stone, if thepeople doing the hiring had a reputation of wanting somebody whowould go along with their ideas.* -57 .19One thing that would keep me from moving up is the thought ofthe increased responsibility breathing down your neck in the better -49 .07jobs.*For a strike to be effective, picket-line violence is necessary. .06 -.55I think we have adequate means for preventing run-away inflation. .13 -.54

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 movingevery now and then to get new experience is part of it. .30 -.45

* Reverse scoring.NOTE: All items with loadings below .40 for both the manual and the non-manual were excludedfrom this table.


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ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS 605RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 presents the rotated factor struc-ture of alienation and status aspirationmeasures for both the manual and the non-manual samples. The findings support thehypothesized independence of the variousalienation measures. In both the manualand the non-manual categories, powerless-ness, normlessness, and Srole's anomie scaleemerged as separate and unrelated dimen-sions. These findings provide support forSeeman's argument for an initial separationof the alternative meanings of alienation.The items loading on the powerlessnessdimension (Factor I for the non-manualand Factor VIII for the manual) refer tothe sense of mastery over political andeconomic events. The basic expectancy ofthis dimension is that the outcome ofpolitical and economic events depends uponconditions that cannot be adequately con-trolled. It is assumed that capabilities arelimited and that even concerted effort isdoomed to failure or at least subjected tounforseen consequences. In its extremeform, powerlessness s equivalent to fatalism,which implies that the individual'sconditionis one of confronting and adjusting to certaininevitabilities. In a lesser form, powerless-ness involves the view that events are con-trollable, but not by persons like one's self.On the other hand, normlessness (FactorsV and VII for the non-manualand FactorsI and VII for the manual) refers to thesubjectively held probability that violationsof social norms are necessary for attainingsocially approved goals. Implicitly, this in-volves a moral judgment on one's society,in terms of the degree to which pressures areexerted toward unethical conduct. The per-ception of normlessness in business andgovernment is to say that society's moralstandards have, to some extent, lost theirhold over conduct in these areas. Thus,norms are regarded as carrying weak sanc-tion, and behavior, as a consequence, losesits predictability. For the normless person,socially approved alternatives are viewed asrelatively ineffective, and the consequentnecessity of unapprovedbehaviorin goal at-tainment is emphasized.The normlessness items were separatedinto two major orthogonal factors in both

samples. Upon inspection of the item con-tent of these factors, it appears that theirindependence manifests primarily a separa-tion of normlessness in government fromnormlessnessin business. The emergence ofthese separate normlessnessfactors may beaccounted for by the mass media emphasison the ethical faults of public officials, whileplaying down those of businessmen; by thepolitical expediency of exposing the party inpower; and by the economic ideology thatemphasizes the autonomy of each of theseinstitutional areas.The expectancy of normlessness n govern-ment goes beyond the factual observationthat unethical practices do occur amonggovernment officials and political aspirants.Instead, it implies that unethical behavior isnot limited to deviate or atypical personal-ities, but is symptomatic of the way the po-litical system works. Fraud and hypocrisyare regardedas necessary for the successfulpolitical career. Thus, from the individual'sstandpoint, political goals and normativemeans are weakly integrated, and politicalleaders are viewed with cynicism and dis-trust.14Economic normlessness (Factor VII)refers to the imperative of force and fraudin business. In an extreme form, this aspectof normlessnessis manifested in a compet-itive jungle-like philosophy resemblingHobbes' portraitof man in a state of nature.Each man competes with other men for de-sired but scarce economic goals without therestraining influence of social norms. It isexpected that neither organizationalnor in-dividual goals can be achieved without theuse of misrepresentation, coercion, or vio-lence. Legitimate authority is regarded asrelatively ineffective, and it is expected thatthe outcome of economic events is based onthe use of deception and the mobilizationof power.The latent separation of the powerless-ness and normlessness factors from Srole'sanomie scale, for both the manual and thenon-manual samples, suggests that the a

14 C. Wright Mills implies that there is a highdegree of realism in the perception of the control ofpolitical events by a morally irresponsible powerelite. See C. Wright Mills, The Higher Immoral-ity, in The Power Elite, New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 1956, pp. 343-361.


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606 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEWpriori assumption of congruence amongthese dimensions of alienation is unwar-ranted. The measures of powerlessness andnormlessness n political and economic areasshould not be interpreted as equivalents ofthe condition of despairand personalmalad-justment measured by Srole's scale.While the factor analyses provide anempirical test for the orthogonality of thesedimensionswithin each sample, they do not

TABLE 2. NORMALIZED TRANSFORMATION MATRIX (La) OF ALIENATION FACTOR STRUCTURES AMONG,MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS

Manual (N=302)Factors I II III IV V VI VII VIII IXNon-Manual(N=301)V .98 .13 .11 -.05 -.03 .07 -.06 .00 .05III .00 -.92 -.16 .05 -.06 -.02 .10 -.31 -.09VIII .08 .24 -.12 .02 -.05 -.42 .45 -.73 .07II -.04 -.03 .12 .99 -.04 .00 .05 .04 .05IV -.14 -.05 .11 .09 .83 -.25 .12 .26 -.36IX .24 .04 -.07 .11 .07 .87 -.10 -.24 -.31VII -.43 .16 .13 .05 -.07 .05 -.69 -.05 .53I .01 -.07 .67 .03 .08 .00 -.08 -.71 -.13VI .00 -.22 -.06 .09 -.59 -.20 -.12 .41 -.61

Manual Non-ManualI. Political Normlessness V. Political NormlessnessII. Anomie III. AnomieIII. Inevitability of War VIII. Political AlienationIV. Communal Values II. Communal ValuesV. Intrinsic Values IV. Intrinsic ValuesVI. Competitive Mobility IX. Competitive MobilityVII. Economic Normlessness VII. Economic NormlessnessVIII. Powerlessness I. PowerlessnessIX . Planning and Control VI. Freedom and Responsibility

provide a test of the similarity of factorialstructure between samples. Drawing uponthe technique developed by Ahmavara,15 thefactors were submitted to a transformationanalysis to determine the degree of similar-ity of these alienation dimensions for themanual as compared to the non-manualworkers.Inspection of both Tables 1 and 2 indi-cates a basic similarity of the alienation

factor structure for the manual and non-manualworkers.The hypothesizedstructuralindependenceof powerlessness,normlessness,and Srole's anomie scale is supported foreach sample. The differencesthat do occurin the factorial structureof these dimensionsrelate primarily to the generality of thepowerlessnessand normlessness factors andto the specific item content of these dimen-sions.

While political and economicnormlessnessare separated for each occupational cate-gory, for manual workers the spheres ofpolitical and economic enterprise appear tobe more closely interwoven. The break-down of norms in business and the break-down of norms in government are morenearly componentsof a similar process. Thehigher generality of normlessness for themanual workermay be due to the tendencyat the lower socio-economic levels to at-tribute the rises and falls of the prosperitylevel to governmentalpolicies.Further, the position of the manualworker is subordinateto that of the success-ful businessmanand to that of the politicalofficial. His subordinate position in the

15 From Yrjo Ahmavara, Transformation Anal-ysis of Factorial Data, Annales Academiae Scien-tarum Fennicae, 1954, B 88, 2, Helsinki, Finland.The main diagonal entries represent 'invariance co-efficients' of the separate dimensions, derived fromthe transformation matrix L= (X'X)-1 (X'Y),where X and Y represent the two entire factormatrices of the manual and non-manual workers.


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ALIENATION AMONG MANUAL AND NON-MANUAL WORKERS 607power structure may account for his per-ceived generality of political and economicnormlessness. The subordinate position ofthe manual worker may also account for asomewhat more specific form of economicnormlessness. The specific content of eco-nomic normlessness for the manual workerreflects the theme of exploitation as neces-sary for success in business. Apparently, themanual workers feel themselves the objectsof manipulation and deception.The occupational differences in factorialstructure become more apparent on highlyspecific factors of political alienation (FactorVIII for the non-manual and Factor III forthe manual). The political alienationfactors do not seem to indicate pure power-lessness or normlessness, but combine bothaspects in relation to specific events, such asvoting, political corruption, and war andpeace. The item pertaining to the inevita-bility of corruption among governmentofficials loads significantly for each sample.But, the concomitantattitudes of those whohold expectancies for political corruptionvary by social class position. For the manualworkers, the expectancy for political cor-ruption is correlated with the perceivedinevitability of war. This specific dimensionfor the manual workers approximates theview that war and peace issues are relatedto political corruption. On the other hand,for the white-collar sample political cor-ruption is associated with a denial of per-sonal responsibility for the governmentalprocess, suggesting that one's own behavior,such as failure to vote in elections, is re-garded as unrelated to political corruption.For them, the issues of war and peace fallclearly under the dimension of powerless-ness.In connection with status-mobility com-mitments, as potentially related to aliena-tion, three relatively independent dimen-sions of status-orientation emerge. One ofthese factors is based on the notion of com-petitive status-strivingas inherent in humannature. This includes the assumption thatoccupational success provides an adequatebasis for determining the worth of an in-dividual and that 'getting ahead' is a uni-versal human desire. A second dimensionof status-orientation is based on the valueplaced on mobility relative to communal

and friendship ties. This aspect of themobility commitmentsuggests a severance ofintimate ties with friends and with com-munity, insofar as they impede career ad-vancement. A third status-orientation factorconsists of the mobility emphasis relative tointrinsic goal commitments. This includesmatching the value of job advancementagainst the values of family, health, peace ofmind, and intrinsic satisfaction with one'swork.Thus on an a priori basis, there werenumerous possibilities of finding supportfor the hypothesized relationships betweenstatus-orientation and the alienation vari-ables. From the present data, none of thesepossible relationships was obtained foreither the manual or the non-manualsamples. Neither the positive correlationsbetween mobility commitment and power-lessness, postulated by Fromm, nor the in-verse relationship hypothesized by Strodt-beck was supported in the present analysis.In similar fashion, neither the acceptancenor the rejection of mobility values wasrelated to normlessness.Thus, on the basisof present findings, we must tentativelyreject the hypothesized relationships be-tween mobility commitments and the power-lessness and normlessness aspects of aliena-tion, or further specify the conditions underwhich such relationshipswill be obtained.It is likely that statistically significantrelationshipsbetween mobility commitments,powerlessness, and normlessness will befound if the variables of opportunity, careerhistory, and organizationalmembership aretaken into account. A theoretical specifica-tion of these conditions, however, is beyondthe scope of this paper.To some extent, the lack of a relationshipbetween mobility values and alienation inthe present study may be due to the relativeabsence of any alienation component in theconceptualization of the status-orientationscale. The format of the items involve achoice among socially approvedalternatives.Commitment to the intrinsic values offamily and community, or to personal free-dom and security, as alternatives to jobadvancement are socially acceptable and donot constitute any of the major forms ofalienation. The independence of status-or-ientation from the alienation factors opens


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608 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICALREVIEWup the future possibility of utilizing thesemeasures in multivariate analyses of theconditionsgeneratingalienation in its variousforms.

SUMMARYWe found empiricalsupport for Seeman'sargument for a conceptual separation ofalternative meanings of alienation. In sep-arate factor analyses of community-widesamples of manual and non-manual workers,the powerlessness and normlessness dimen-sions emerged as orthogonal to Srole'sanomie scale. The independence of thesedimensionssuggests that alienation may also

exist in forms other than those manifestingmaladjustment and personality disorders.Attention is also called to the importanceofmaking the empiricalreferentsspecific in theuse of alienation framework.The powerlessness scale referred to theexpectancy for control over the outcome ofpolitical and economic events. The factoranalyses show a high degree of similarityin the structure of powerlessnessfor manualas comparedto non-manualworkers, thoughsome differenceswere noted in the loadingsof specific items on the powerlessness di-mensions. Among manual workers the per-ceived inability to control political corrup-

tion was associated with the inevitability ofwar; for the non-manualpolitical corruptionwas associated with a denial of personalresponsibilityfor the governmentaldecision-making process.The normlessness scale consisted of ameasure of the expectancy for unapprovedbehavior in business and government. Itconveys the implication of cynicism anddistrust in social relationshipsas a result ofthe low expectancy for normative compli-ance. The dimension of normlessnesscarriesa somewhat higher degree of generality forthe manualworkers,though its political com-ponents are relatively independent of itseconomic components for each sample.None of the various hypothesized rela-tionshipsbetweenmobility commitmentsandalienation are supported in the present fac-torial study. This finding suggests that it isnecessary to further specify the conditionsfor hypothesizing a relationship betweenstatus-orientationand alienation.The basic tasks remain of identifying theantecedent conditions from which powerless-ness and normlessness stem, and of deter-mining the effectiveness of the alienationvariablesin predictingthe extent and qualityof participation in the various areas ofsocial life.

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Dimensions of Alienation Among Manual and Non-Manual Workers