Acquiescence or Activism? Political Behavior among the Politically Alienated

Abstract

This paperfocuses on factors associated with mass society and relative deprivation theories as determinants of behavior among the politically alienated. Results from contingency table and logit analysis suggest that not only do the alienated differ from their nonalienated counterparts, but also there are substantial variations among the alienated: (1) those with organizational affiliations and trust in others are less likely to be political dropouts; (2) those who feel worse off or underemployed are less likely to be political ritualists; (3) those with organizational affiliations are more likely to engage simultaneously in conventional and unconventional modes of participation; and (4) those who are untrusting and those who feel underemployed are significantly more likely to be involved as protestors. Mass society and relative deprivation theories help distinguish among the politically alienated, but their predictions about the relative frequencies of different reactions to alienation are not borne out.