Patterns of Alienation in Inner City Ghettos

Abstract

Although high rates of alienation are known to exist in inner city ghettos, it is not known whether that alienation is directed toward society as a whole or if individuals make distinctions between different sectors of the social system. Relationships between the levels of alienation directed toward four aspects of society are analyzed to determine if they are the result of a single underlying response to society or if they are the product of separate orientations. The findings show that individuals in low-income areas develop a generalized response to the bureaucratic aspects of urban society. They do not view society in terms of its component subsystems but instead treat each sector as a part of the whole. However, the orientation of a person to his neighborhood is independent of his orientation toward other aspects of society.