Alienation via Rejection

Abstract

The Alienation via Rejection scale is a psychological instrument developed by Elmer Struening and Arthur H. Richardson in 1965. This scale originated from a comprehensive factor analytic exploration designed to map the complex domains of alienation, anomia, and authoritarianism. Specifically, the Alienation via Rejection subscale captures the respondent’s feelings of generalized societal distrust, cynicism, and perceived rejection by social institutions and other individuals. It measures the extent to which an individual feels disconnected from, or unable to rely upon, the mainstream social system.

This factor is critical for social psychological research as it isolates a dimension of alienation characterized by pessimistic views about the future, a belief in the futility of collective action, and a conviction that personal success is often determined by luck rather than merit. The original research aimed to provide cleaner, empirically derived measures of these distinct social attitudes.

Keywords

Alienation, Anomia, Authoritarianism, Social Psychology, Psychological Scale, Distrust, Societal Rejection, Cynicism, Powerlessness, Social Attitudes, Struening, Richardson.

Authors

Elmer Struening, Arthur H. Richardson.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Alienation via Rejection scale is to quantify an individual’s subjective experience of isolation, mistrust, and perceived powerlessness within their social and political environment. By focusing on perceived rejection, the scale assesses the fundamental breakdown in the respondent’s belief in social cohesion and mutual support.

As part of a larger measurement battery, this specific subscale helps researchers differentiate between various facets of social maladjustment. It provides a measure of generalized cynicism and lack of trust that is empirically distinct from factors related to specific political ideologies (like authoritarianism) or personal emotional states (like purposelessness or emotional distance).

Construct

The construct measured, Alienation via Rejection, represents a core dimension of socio-political alienation. It reflects the individual’s belief that the world is unpredictable, uncontrollable, and generally hostile. High scores indicate a pervasive sense that one cannot count on others, that public officials are uninterested in the average citizen, and that the modern world is too complex and changing too quickly to navigate successfully.

This construct overlaps significantly with the concept of anomia, or normlessness, but places a strong emphasis on the feeling of being personally cast aside or abandoned by reliable sources of support. The items consistently reflect a worldview characterized by profound pessimism regarding societal improvement and a focus on immediate self-preservation due to generalized distrust.

Validity

The initial validity of the Alienation via Rejection scale is primarily established through the original factor analysis conducted by Struening and Richardson (1965), which demonstrated strong construct validity by showing that these items loaded onto a single, cohesive factor separate from other constructs like Emotional Distance or Purposelessness. This strong factor loading confirms that the scale measures a unitary dimension of social psychological attitude.

Subsequent research, including doctoral dissertations utilizing the scale (e.g., Knapp, 1971), has supported its utility, suggesting adequate discriminant validity across various populations. The scale’s ability to differentiate between individuals based on their level of general societal mistrust validates its use in predicting related social behaviors and attitudes, such as political disengagement or discriminatory tendencies.

Reliability

While specific psychometric coefficients are not detailed in the provided excerpt, the rigorous methodology employed in the original factor analysis suggests that the derived factor possessed acceptable levels of internal consistency. In the context of mid-century social research, scales retained based on clear factor loadings were expected to exhibit high internal reliability. The consistent replication of this factor structure in later studies, such as those included in the University of Michigan’s measures compendium, further attests to the stability and reliability of the Alienation via Rejection dimension.

Factor Analysis

The Alienation via Rejection scale emerged as one of several distinct factors identified in Struening and Richardson’s large-scale factor analytic study of social psychological attitudes. This specific factor comprises 16 items (1-15 and 17) that share a high degree of variance related to cynical, distrusting, and pessimistic views of society and its institutions. The authors successfully separated this dimension from other related but conceptually distinct components.

The comprehensive factor structure identified in the original research included:

• Alienation via Rejection (16 items: 1-15, 17)
• Emotional distance (4 items)
• Authoritarianism (8 items)
• Purposelessness (6 items)
• Self-determinism (5 items)
• Family authority (6 items)
• Trust and optimism (12 items)
• Conventionality (4 items)
• Religious orthodoxy (6 items)

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological Scale

Format: Likert-type scale utilizing 6 response options.

Language Available: English (Original).

Population Group: General adult population; widely used in sociological and political attitude research.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (typically 18 years and older).

Population Details: Developed within the context of American social research in the 1960s. Has been applied globally, including studies focusing on social change in countries like Kuwait (Al Fozan, 1989).

Test Methodology: Respondents are instructed to rate their degree of agreement with each statement using the following 6-point scale:

• 1=Strongly agree
• 2=Agree
• 3=Not sure but probably agree
• 4=Not sure but probably disagree
• 5=Disagree
• 6=Strongly disagree

Keywords

Social mistrust, Cynicism, Powerlessness, Social attitudes, Psychological measurement, Struening, Richardson, Social disengagement.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Alienation via Rejection scale was first published in 1965. As an academic instrument widely cited and included in public research compendiums, it is generally available for non-commercial research use, provided the original authors (Struening and Richardson) are properly credited. The original PDF can be downloaded here: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/29187677.pdf and here: https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/dis/infoserv/isrpub/pdf/Measuresofsocialpsychologicalattitudes_2928_.PDF.

Reference’s

• Struening, Elmer and Richardson, Arthur H. (1965). “A Factor Analytic Exploration of Alienation, Anomia and Authoritarisnsim Domain.” American Sociological Review, 30 (5): 768-776.
• Robinson, John P., Shaver, Phillip R. (1969). Measures of Political Attitudes. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• Knapp, Ronald James. (1971). A factor analytic study of Alienation, Anomia, and Authoritarianism and their relationship to the tendency to Discriminate in a southern college population. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation.
• Al Fozan, Abdulla Fozan. (1989). Social change and Alienation in Kuwait. University of Wales, Doctoral dissertation.

Items of the Alienation via Rejection

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way. The Alienation via Rejection subscale consists of items 1-15 and 17 from the larger scale battery.

1. These days a person doesn’t really know who he can count on.
2. There is not much chance that people will really do anything to make this country a better place to live in.
3. Success is more dependent on luck than real ability.
4. Nowadays a person has to live pretty much for today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
5. It is hard to figure out who you can really trust these days.
6. It’s hardly fair to bring children into the world with the way things look for the future.
7. In spite of what some people say, the lot of the average man is getting worse.
8. There’s little use writing to public officials because they aren’t really interested in the problems of the average man.
9. There are so many ideas about what is right and wrong these days that it is hard to figure out how to live your own life.
10. So many people do things well that it is easy to become discouraged.
11. Things are changing so fast these days that one doesn’t know what to expect from day to day.
12. Most people don’t realize how much their lives are controlled by plots hatched in secret by others.
13. Few people really look forward to their work.
14. Our country has too many poor people who can do little to raise their standard of living.
15. It is usually best to tell your superiors or bosses what they really want to hear.
16. People will do almost anything if the reward is high enough.