Alienation in the Ghetto

Abstract

Two samples of middle-class Negro subjects were investigated, one group living within the traditional Negro ghetto areas and the other living in a predominantly white suburban area. The integrated subjects expressed fewer feelings of alienation; they felt less powerless and scored lower on the anomia scale. They tended also to orient themselves toward the mainstream of society rather than just the segregated institutions of the Negro subculture. It is argued that in the ghetto alienation takes on a circular characteristic; it not only is a product of ghetto living but helps keep people locked in the traditional residential pattern.