strain theory reconsidered
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Alienation and Deviance: Strain Theory Reconsidered
Richard G. Mitchell, Jr., Oregon State University
This paper proposes a way in which the concepts of alienation and anomie may
be related in a single dimension of social experience and offers a refinement and ex-
pansion of traditional strain theories of deviance causation. It is argued that both
alienated and anomie social actors seek a common goal—a sense of effective inter-
action w ith their environment; an experience of personal competence. Ano mie persons
are those who perceive the demands of primary roles as confusing and beyond theirabilities and who respond by seeking to maximize certainty, security, and stability in
social interaction. By contrast, alienated individuals are those who experience primary
role requirements as simple but stilling and restrictive, bereft of meaningful chal-
lenges. These latter persons seek greater freedom and opportunities for creativity and
self-expression. The ways in which deviance may emerge as these alienated persons
adapt to the perceived discrepancy between their abilities and responsibilities are
outlined and illustrated following the adaptive modes suggested by Merton for anomie
persons.
According to Merton (1938, 1957) and other traditional strain theorist
(Cohen, 1955; Cloward and O hlin, 1960), in the United States there eire rela
tively many persons who internalize and aspire to the culturally promulgated
goals of wealth, material well-being, and sociaJ stability, but there are relative
ly few who have access to the legitimate, institutionalized means of achieving
those goals. From this perspective, strain at the social structural level is the re
sult of this imperfect integration between goals and means and, for the in-
dividusd, the disjunctures between aspirations and realistic expectations, the
discrepancies between capacities to perform and the requirements of role
performances.
Consistent with this traditional strain model is a view of social actors as
somehow inadequate, incapable, or inferior as a result of their disadvantaged
positions in the social structure. In this condition the challenges the individua
must confront to achieve success outstrip his or her meager skills and re
sources. In sum, the individual's i>erceived abilities are less than his or her
perceived responsibilities.' Recurrent experiences of personal failure and
inadequacy may lead to a sense of meaninglessness and normlessness calledainomie. This anomie disorientation is reduced through modes of adaptation
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ALIENATION AND DEVIANCE 33 1
(see especially Clinard, 1964:55-56, 57-97). Hirschi (1969:6-10) and Empey
(1978:301) direct attention to three major weaknesses. Strain theory fails (1) to
adequately account for deviance committed by middle- and upper-class per-
sons (and others in relatively advantaged positions), (2) to explain the devi-
ance of persons who do not hold material success and security as central lifeorien tation s, an d (3) to take into consideration the general decline in deviance
observed in young ad ultho od in spite of the relative im m utab ility of social class
(how ever, see Hirsch i and Gottfredson, 1983:55 2-584). By reexa m ining the
strain process, talking into consideration the three related concepts of aliena-
tion, competence, and anomie, I believe these shortcomings can be obviated
and strain theories given new and broadened utility.
The Re la t ionship be tween Al iena t ion and Anomie
It is (>ossible to conceive of aJienation and anomie as opposite ends of a
continuum of social experience (Mitchell, 1983:chap. 12; Coser, 1969:505;
Cooley, 1912:343; Co bu rn, 1 975:213-225; Barakat, 1969:1-10; D urkh eim ,
1951; ' French and Kjihn, 1962:1-47). The points on this continuum may be
conceptualized as of ratios of jjerceived ability to perceived responsibility in
primau-y role relationships. Strain, in this context, is deFmed as the imbalance
between ability and responsibility, where failure to reconcile these conditions
has important jjerceived consequences (see McGrath, 1970:10-21).
Anomie
Merton argues that when ability is inferior to the responsibility of neces-
sary role performance required to achieve socially emphasized goals, people
tend to experience anomie. As an example of this process he focuses on the
plight of lower-class persons who struggle with inadequate social skills to
obtain scarce monetary rewards. Anomie, however, is not simply the absence
of material success.
T o m e, ano m ie suggests feelings of confusion or disorien tation, existencein a social world lacking in predictability or substance, a sense of recurrent
contradictions in what is required or permissible in social action (Duridieim,
1951). Anomie persons characterize their relationship to others as normless,
me aning less, insu bstan tial. Th ey p erceive themselves as isolated, ou t of touch.
By adopting this broadened interpretation of anomie, the motive for
action of anom ie persons takes on new m eanin g. In brief, anomie m otivates a
search for social stability, security, and certainty. The goal of anomie persons
is not simply economic achievement but, more broadly, the restoration ofstable social interaction, escape from pervasive uncertainty, reintegration into
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332 RICHARD G. MITCHELL, JR.
Otherwise, are in rough equilibrium with one's capacities. What is sought
the articulation of salient goals with permissible means, not simply materis
success. Using the limited case of economic achievement as a case in poin
Merton (1938, 1957) explains several types of deviance in terms of people
efforts to adapt to anomie, to alter their life experience in the direction o
increased predictability and control. Not everyone, however, is in want o
security, stability, and certainty.
Alieftation
Middle- and upper-class persons, and some in other categories, hav
achieved and perhaps learned to take for granted at least moderate monetar
success and social stability. Yet these persons may experience another sort o
strain, another kind of disjuncture between goals and means, which, in turn
contributes to other types of deviance. Those who have achieved stable socia
circumstances and material well-being may feel themselves lacking in othe
ways.
Security, stability, and certainty in sodai interaction are not positiv
qualities without limits. When one's place in the social structure is so secur
that mobility is forlorn, when relationships are so stable as to render chang
impossible, when the form and content of social interaction becomes so certai
that outcomes are known in advance, then security, stability, and certaintmay no longer be experienced as desirable or even tolerable. Tsdcen to excess
the certain, stable, and secure social environment engenders a repression o
personal volition, a denial and stifling of individual creativity, and it inhibit
self-expression. Some people may obtain economic well-being, prestige, an
permanence of position in the social structure at the expense of other desires
Sjifely ensconced in positions of (tower, they may find themselves in man
ways powerless to act (Kanter and Stein, 1979:9-12).
Assembly-line workers are often well p£ud and secure in their jobs bulimited in their work to the performance of menial and repetitive tasks withou
intrinsic satisfaction (Garson, 1979a:211-217; Molstad, 1980). Teenager
perceive themselves as possessing rapidly developing social and physica
abilities. Yet in the extended adolescence, especially experienced by middle
and upper-class youth (Glaaer, 1975:29), these perceived abilities find n
adequate demonstration, earn no tangible or symbolic reward (Stinchcombe
1964:chap. 5). To their continual frustration, young people fmd themselve
sociaiiy identified with dependent childhood (Friedenberg, 1966:50-51Julian, 1977:365, 376-378). The inteUigent, educated, ambitious youn
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ALIENATION AND DEVIANCE 33 3
Consistent in each of these examples are images of social actors as pos-
sessing greater capacity, talent, skill, or resources than flnd opportunities for
expression in the enactment of primary roles. Persons see themselves capable
of, and desire to do, more than they are allowed or encouraged to do . For
these people the social world is experienced recurrently as bound over byregulation, rule, and routine at every turn. Spontaneity and creativity are
stifled. Individuality is subjugated to the dictates of an obdurate and oppres-
sive social structure. In sum, individuals' perceived abilities are greater than
their perceived responsibilities. Recurrent experiences of this sort may lead
to a sense of powerlessness and self-estrangement called alienation.'
Competence
The goals of the alienated individual are different from and similar tothose of anomie ]3ersons. They differ in that alienated individuals, in searching
for occasions to utilize their perceived abilities, may purposely seek out prob-
lematic and puzzling circumstances or actively encours^ continued in-
stability in some areas of their social lives.
More important than their differences, however, are the similarities be-
tween alienated and anomie social actors. Both are seeking ways of bringing
into balance their perceived abilities and the responsibilities confronting them.
Both endeavor to match the challenges they face with the resources theypossess. Both attempt to move toward a state of equilibrium between what
they perceive themselves capable of doing and what they are allowed or re-
quired to do as a result of their position in the social structure. Achievem ent o f
this balance renders activity intrinsically rewarding, enjoyable, "fun." It
becom es leisure in the cl2issic sense (deGrazia, 1% 2:11-25).
In neuropsychological terms, organisms are motivated to alter environ-
mental inputs, reducing stimulus variability when too much is present, in-
creasing variability when stimulation falls below some optimal level (Bcrlyne,1960; Hebb, 1955; Hunt, 1965; Farley in Hooper, 1983; Zuckerman, 1971).''
Social psychologically, role expectations are met with appropriate and
adequate role pterformances. Persons are motivated to achieve what White
(1959) refers to as competence, a sense of personal worth, self-as-cause, ef-
ficacy in interaction with others. Csikszentmihalyi (1975) identifies the con-
dition of a balanced dynamic tension between tJsiiity and responsibility as
"flow." In a state of flow, "a person perceives that his ci^iacity to act (or
skills) matches the opportunities for action perceived in the environment (or
challenges)" (Cakszentmihalyi and Larson, 1978:326-327).
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334 RICHARD G. MITCHELL, JR.
The focus of the discussion that follows is at the social psychological level
while recognizing the effects of individual and institutional structures on inter
action and perception.
Competence grows from the process of recognizing one's abilities anapplying them meaningfully and completely. Competence means assessin
oneself as qualified, capable, fit, sufficient, adequate. Competence emerge
when a person's talent, skills, and resources find useful application in meetin
a commensurate challenge, problem, or difficulty. In sum, competent in
dividuals' perceived abilities are roughly equal to their perceived responsi
bilities.
It is my contention that deviance is the potential product of a search fo
competence by anomic and alienated persons. Merton illustrates the typics
forms this deviance may take among the former category of persons. He pro
poses four modes of adaptation to anomic strain: innovation, ritualism, re
treatism, and rebellion. Alienation produces deviant adaptive behavior a
well. Fig ure 1 sum marizes the relationships between £ilienation, co mp etence
and anomie.
Figure 1
Relationships between Alienation, Competence, and Anomie
Anom ie Com petence Alienation
Ability < ResfKjnsibility - Ability * Responsib ility - Ab ility > Responsib
Subjective Experience Subjective Experience Subjective Experience
Confusion-disorienta- Co mp etence Frustration-repres siontion Self-as-cause Pow erlessness
No rmlessn ess Persona l efficacy Self-estrangemen t
Isolation Flow
Motive for A dion Mo tive for A ction
Social an d economic Personal freedom,
secu rity, stability, creative self-certainty • expression, challenge
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ALIENATION AND DEVIANCE 3 3 5
Adaptations
Alienated individuals may act in deviant fashions as they strive for chal-
lenges to match their capacities, as they seek opportunities for creative self-
expression in the enactm ent of prim ary roles, or, in response to the absence ofsuch opportunities, in other ways. By locating in Merton's paradigm a search
for creativity and self-expression as the goal motivating adaptive action, it is
possible to account for those kinds of deviance omitted by traditional strain
theory. Specifically, the deviant acts of well-to-do persons, acts of "senseless"
destruction and violence, £ind, indirectly, the cessation of deviance by young
adults following delinquent teenage careers may be more easily understood
and expliiined by hypothesizing that these persons are in search of creative
self-expression, not economic success and social stability.
The conceptual categories of ritualist, innovator, retreatist, and rebel
set forth in the original paradigm are employed to guide the following discus-
sion of deviance rooted in alienation.
Ritualism
Ritualism is of two types, one involving a scaling down or ab£indonment
of hope for creative expression, the other intentional restriction of abilities in
the face of a scarcity of meaningful challenges. The first tyjse is a process paral-
leled by anomie social actors, involving a trimming of goals to fit available
means.
In Merton's scheme, if unswerving commitment to institutionalized
means produces less than some culturally preferred level of success, the
anomie rituadist reduces aspirations to conform with available opportunities.
When fully utilized abilities are inadequate to meet the demands of existing
resp>onsibilities, a lower level of responsibility is sought. Likewise, alienated
fjersons, frustrated in their search for creative opportunity, may set Siside that
elusive goal but retain their commitment to conventional role relationships.
For some persons the circumstances of their primary roles such as em-
ployment and family may be accepted, though hope for meaningful creative
experience therein is abandoned. Cultural cliches such as "Nobody likes to
go to work but t ha t 's my job so I do i t" or " W h o cares if w e're not happy?
Husbands and wives have a responsibility to stay together for the sake of the
children" illustrate the ritualists' perspective. The ritualist may be bitter and
intolerant toward those who continue to strive for mestningful and creative
outlets on the jo b and at hom e (K aufm an in Schacht, i970 :lii-liii). Peoplewho seek to meike some personal input at work—those who deviate from
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33 6 RICHA RD G. MITCHELL , JR.
in occupations presumably offering more creative opportunity, especia
those in the fine arts and academ ia, is dem eaned as "w e ir d ," "lo ng -h air ,"
just plain " ac ad em ic ." Persons who divorce because they find their marriag
unfulfilling are dubb ed by ritualists M " im m a tu re ," "self-ce ntere d," ev
"sinful." Whether or not this form of ritualist adaptation may be considerdeviant dejjends on the degree their prejudice toward self-expressive, creati
persons is manifested in overt discrimination.
A second, more clearly deviant form of ritualistic adaptation is unique
alienated persons: impoverished goals are made more attractive by purpose
reduction of available means and pterformance capacities are intentiona
limited to match available creative chsdlenges. Alcohol and other soporif
may play a part in this self-handicapping process. Traditionsilly, these dru
have been associated with anomic retreatism, serving to blunt the urgency overbearing and ever-present demands on limited resources (Roman, 197
Hessler, 1974). However, alternative applications are possible. Alcohol a
other substances may be used in controlled amounts to limit the range a
variety of possible action, transforming the monotonous chore to a reasonab
challenge as abilities decrease to a level commensurate with the job at han
Routine work and relationships take on added relative complexity as coord
nation, perception, and skill are attenuated by drug effects. In the realm
play, ability to maintain some minimal level of role performance under icreasing drug influence may serve as a source of personal pride or int
personal comf>etition. High school and college students may indulge in drin
ing games. The object of this play is to ingest quantities of alcohol in a limit
period of time—"chug-a-lug" contests—or as a penalty for losing in games
chance—"passout." Status accrues to those who consume the most alcoh
while retaining limited motor skill or, at least, remaining conscious. Oth
drugs were employed during the 1960s in a similar fashion. Novitiate ma
juana smokers under the influence would venture into the strzught world movie houses, ice cresun and pizza parlors, and music events to try their ski
at passing for n orm al. Som e LS D users, likewise, tested their abilities to m ai
tain composure and act plausibly in conventional society.
Games based on drug-induced incapacitation are also adaptable to wo
settings where the difficulty of meeting expectations while inebriated e
livens otherwise laborious routines. I am acquainted with a computer pr
gra m m er wh o worked for m ore than two year s und er th e influence of m2U
juana and periodically cocaine as a buffer against what he perceived as ttedium of an overly simple job.
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ALIENATION AND DEVIANCE 33 7
chemist did not provide this necessary excitement and when too few puzzling
cases were available for him to solve, he sought "mental exaltation." This
was accomplished by experience of the everyday world through altered states
of consciousness produced by morphine and cocaine, the "seven percent
solution" to his problems of vocational boredom.
Innovation
Innovation involves accepting the desirability of creative and meaningful
self-expression but rejecting the conventional avenues through which this
experience is found. This may involve a search for creativity outside of, on the
margins of, or within primary roles. Stagnating jobs and unrewarding family
lives may be seen as undesirable but inevitable. OppKjrtunities for creativity
are sought in dternate activities, in hobbies or play (Grubb, 1975; Spreitzerand Snyder, 1974; WUensky, 1960; Kando and Sumners, 1971). The middle-
managem ent execu tive, stymied in efforts to produce what he conceives to be
a meaningful contribution in work, flnds compensatory action in restoring an
old car, coaching Little League, or, more deviantly, by taking up mountetin
climbing, hang gliding, spelunking, or other high-risk sports (Mitchell,
1983;chap. 12). Th e devoted but dissatisfled husband and father has an aiTair
with his secretary or other co-worker (Roy, 1974:44-66). The middle-class
housewife finds outlets for her frustrated creativity and self-expression con-
ventionally in volunteer work or deviantly in shoplifting (M. Canneron, 1964)
and prostitution.
Other kinds of innovation may involve attempts to fmd creativity on the
periphery of primary roles. Inflexible and unrewarding work is made mesuiing-
ful by the creation of personal performance goals and interaction rituals on the
msirgins of work, where some volitional control remains (Kanter and Stein,
1979:182). Keypunchers keep time with each other or to other subtle rhythms
(Garson, 1979b: 195-197); punch press operators structure job time and mea-
sure progress around daily snack and beverage breaks (Roy, 1959:158-168);
workers in various industries play "wai^gam ei" against m anagement time-rate
evaluations, purposely concealing or misrepresenting tl^ir production capaci-
ties (Mathewson, 1931). Moistad (1980) found that woricers in a beer-bottling
plant ran token businesses while on the job, selling cheese, inexpensive cloth-
ing, vitamins, and illicit drugs to their fellow employees. Others reaoid dis-
counted beer outside the plant, circulated football betting cards, or provided
other in-plant gambling action. A pervasive feature of these enterprises was
their limited proHtability. Little was earned, considerable time and energywere invested. One unsuccessful part-time businessman-bottler exfdained his
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33 8 RICHAR D G. MITCHELL, JR.
Innovation may also take place within primcu-y roles. Assembly lin
workers commit acts of sabotage by purposefully misusing equipmen
adulterating or damaging products, and disrupting work flow in order to sym
bolically gain control over their surroundings and make a meaningful co
tribution in the work place, even if that contribution is a negative one (Mo
stad, 1980; Swados, 1962). Auto assembly workers deliberately set flre
line controls, scratch paint, dent bodies, bend gejir shift levers, slit upholster
cut ignition wires, leave bolts loose, break off trunk keys in the lock {Tim
1972:76), drop ignition keys in the gas tJink (Garson, 1979a:215), weld bi
of loose scrap metal inside body psuiels (creating permanent unrepairab
rattles) (Swados, 1962:113), drop partisiUy assembled cars from cranes, an
overlook such e rrors as steering w heels that come ofl" in the dr ive r's ha nd
{Blue Collar Trap, 1972). T he guild-craft signatu re of the m od em metsd w orbecomes the surreptitious hammer blow denting the finished product (W.
Upjohn Institute, 1973:88). The task of outwitting security offers the em
ployee-thief "significant job enrichment . . . [providing opportunities] to t£i
matters into his own hands, assume responsibility, make decisions and fa
challenges" (Zeitlin, 1971:24).
Physical aggression and abuse directed toward spouse and children a
other illustrations of deviant actions aime d at prod ucing a m eaningful impa
in primary roles when the requirements of these roles are perceived as stiflior inhibiting (Gelles, 1972; McKinley, 1964:139-157; Steinmetz and Straus
1975:13-14).
Retrtatistn
The retreatist rejects the notion that creative self-expression can be foun
or made possible in primtu-y roles. Meaningful work and other relationshi
are imagined as possible only in some other tim e or place. Cu rre nt unp leasa
circumstances are endured, creative expression deferred. Some believe thunrewarding work or ill-chosen mates are only temporary impediments
their creative urges. They have a plan. Paraphrasing W. Cameron (196
103), such a plan might sound like this: "I'm going to work at this lousy jo
for ten more years, save some money, and then I can quit. Then I'll buy
sailboat, leave my bitchy old woman and sail off to Tahiti, set up housekee
ing with a beautiful native girl and learn to pa in t." O the rs have a less defini
prog ram before th em . T he y accept m ore or less the notion tha t a life of ceas
less and senseless toil with ill-suited and unappreciative companions wultimately lead to opportunities for creative and meaningful action at som
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ALIENATION AND DEVIANCE 3 39
Rebellion
Rebels argue that creativity neither inheres in nor can be infused into
conventional roles. The only way true creativity can be found, they say, is by
a radical restructuring of one's perceptions. In its milder forms this modifica-
tion of perception in search of creative experience is found in religion, psy-
chiatry, consciousness-raising or encounter groups, and the like. All of these
offer an alternative interpretation of experience in primary roles, which
purport to bring meaning and purpose to previously empty acts and relation-
ships. It is claimed that one needs only to get rid of the "p h o n y " conventional
qualities of primary roles and relations and "get in touch with your feelings"
to find the potential for creativity in daily affairs. This is not simply a process
of paying greater attention to the jxjsitive qualities of one's family or work
but a rejection of previous forms of perception in favor of new ones.
In its extreme form this rebellion involves acceptance of Orwellian sorts
of "double think" epitomized by the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work
Makes You Free) on the gates of Auschwitz concentration camp or Ronald
R ea ga n's dubb ing of a multiwarhead nuclear missile system the " M X Peace-
keeper." Others espwuse the "mind-expanding" drugs as a ready entr6e into
an alternative resdity where creative opportunities abound.*
SummaryI have suggested a form of strain in the relations between socially promul-
gated goals and p rescribed m ean s that explains types of deviance not account-
ed for by Merton and his model of anomie socied actors. This second kind of
strain is the result of a discrepancy between the individual's ability to perform
certain roles and the structured blocks that prevent or limit that role enact-
ment. This strain is the result of a differentiid between what people think
themselves capable of doing and what they are allowed or encouraged to do.
Persons experiencing this variety of strain are not motivated to act by someneed to attain material wealth or social stability but rather by the search for the
satisfaction of experiencing themselves as fully functioning individuals, a
feeling of personal competence. This competence is the experience of effective
interaction with the environment, the act of creative self-expreSsion. Com-
petence is experienced when one's perceived abilities are matched with ap-
proximately equal responsibilities.
When there is an imbalance between capacity and performance, between
the tools at hand and the job to be done, two avenues are open. When chal-lenges outstrip the capacities of the individual to cope with them, we observe
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340 RICHARD G. MITCHELL, JR
materialism are too great for those with only a lower-cleiss preparation an
access to that world. The individual experiences a sense of anomie, of existenti
chaos, of normlessness and disorientation. This is the experience Hegel refe
to as separation from Society (Sch2icht, 1970:45-64). On the other hand, whe
individuals perceive that the challenges and responsibilities set before the
are not commensurate with their talents and abilities, when their responsibilitie
do not fully allow them to utilize the skills and capacities they believe the
possess, the response is quite different. They experience eilienation, wh
Hegel refers to as a separation from self. I suggest that the latter reaction mo
frequently characterizes middle-class delinquen t juvenile beh avior a nd certai
kinds of adult criminsdity.
E N D N OT E S
•I would like to acknowledge Robert Merton's patient review of and thoughtful commenta
on this paper. What conceptual errors remain are mine alone. An earlier version was present
at the Society for the Study of Social Problems annual meetings, New York, New York, Septemb
1980.
'The reference here to individual perception is intended and important. While Merto
(1938, 1957) formulation focused pointedly on social structural conditions and rates of devia
acts (see especially M en on , 1957:132 , 163) to the exclusion of individual perception and a ctiomy purpose is to expand the application of the paradigm to the interactional level. Anomie an
alienation are, in this context, conscious, negotiated definitions of experienced situations. Th
are emergent products of the symbolic interaction between persons, social actors' interpretatio
of perceived structural conditions, not Just the conditions themselves.
"While DurKheim was aware of a condition in direct opposition to anomie that I refer
as alienation, where "excessive regulation" and "oppressive discipline" overly restrict individu
action, he granted this circumstance little importance. It receives mention only in a footnot
followed by the qualiHcation that "it has so little contemporary importance and examples a
so hard to fmd . . . that it seems useless to dwell upon it" (Durkheim, 1951:226).
'Alienation is one of the oldest concep ts in the social sciences derived from yet earlier n otio
of original sin. It has been used to describe a wide range of psychological and social condition
including loneliness, powerlessness, isolation, despair, depersonalization, ruthlessness, apath
aggression, self-estrangement, normlessness, atuiety, meaninglessnesg, and hopelessnes
Am ong the social categories said to be alienated or anomie in varying degrees are blacks, wo me
blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, migrant farm workers, artists, college professor
the mentally ill, drug addicts, the aged, adolescents, the poor, the newly rich, voters, victim
of prejudice, the prejudiced, political conserveuives, political radicals, the physically handicappe
immigrants, exiles, bureaucrats, beatniks, and recluies (]ose|^ son and josep hson , 1962:12-13
The Joiephsons observe that, even taking into account possible duplications, this lilt includes
sizable proportion of the persons found in any industrial society.
Eilbrts to organize the melange of meanings applied to alienation have been made b
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ALIENATION AND DEVIANCE 34 1
thai requires little or no thought and "can be used in a great variety of contexts with an air of
expertise" yet signify little or nothing (Kaufman in Schacht, 1970:xlix). In the face of this apparent
ambiguity and vagueness some have called for the abandonment of the term in favor of more
precise and appropriate references (Israel, 1971:289; Feuer, 1%3). My effort here and elsewhere
(M itchell, 1983) has not been to deny the term but to clarify it, to locate alienation and anom ie
on a single dimension of social experience, thus bringing a variety of theory and research ontosome common ground. The perspective of alienation used here has its roots in Marx's use of
the term.
Marx is often credited with bringing alienation into sociology Certainly he did much to
popularize it. His notion of alienation focused on a person's position in the economic order.
Tho se in a capitalistic system who are required to sell their labor are stripped of any meaningful
relationship to the things they produce. Pride of authorship, a sense of personal efTicacy, of
creative self-expression in work are lost. The individual is denied the gratification of the full
use of his or her capacities. Alienated labor is work for some end exterior to the work itself, such
as a paycheck. Such work is no longer intrinsically rewarding but becomes a burden, a noxious
but necessary drudgery (Marx, 1956:169-170).
'Maurice Zuckerman (19 71; Zuckerman in Hooper, 1983) argues that "sensation-seeking"
behavior varies from one individual to the next but is a basic biological trait akin to exploratory
behavior in other species and is related to reduced levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase.
Frank Farley goes further by tying sensation-seeking behavior to creativity. Sensation seekers
are curious, imaginative individuals who enjoy juggling the modalities of perception, rcconcep-
tualizing the world about them in novel ways. Farley posits a kind of opportunity structure
theory of delinquency reminiscent of Cloward and Ohiin (1960) wherein sensation seekers who
are denied opportunities for conventional outlets of their creativity express that capacity in
deviant ways. "H igh creativity and delinquency spring from the same source, like Ja nu s, an
underaroused nervous system . . . . W e just com pleted a study of low-arousal [high sensation-
seeking] kids, in which we found . . . the probability of delinquency was greater in the lower-class
group; of creativity in the higher-class group. I think upper middle-class families can provide
for the low-arousal child's stimulation in socially acceptable ways. A tower-class child with the
same needs may hit the streets, join a gang, run away or get in trouble" (Farley in Hooper,
1983:80, 173).
'The organizers of the Tupperwarc-type parties where glass, cookware, lingerie, basketry
and the like are sold to friends and neighbors demonstrate similar behavior. These exchanges
provide occasions for token business participation and demonstration of sales skills yet are
seldom motivated exclusively by extrinsic proFit except perhaps for mid-level sales managers.
Others m ay display their entrepreneurial com petence by fund-raising efforts on behalf of charitabk
and philanthropic organizations where personal financial gain is altogether precluded but the
real and intransigent challenges of the marketplace remain.
'The pharmacological properties of drugs used in the adaptive proceu are less important
than their social definitions. As noted, h allucinogens may be emp loyed by ritualists to purposely
limit performance capa cities or, alternatively, as tools for rebellious manipulation of conventional
perceptions of reality. Still others may flnd in the use of opiates a confirmation of their creative
abilities. Finestone (1957) has shown that heroin addicts sometimes develop shared rationaliu-
tions, which give them a sense of superiority through rejection of conventional standards. From
this alternative subcultural perspective, drug usage is not an escape but a valued enhancement<il and achievement in perception, a form of creative setf-expreuion.
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3 4 2 RICH ARD G. MITCHELL, JR.
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