Alienation: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

Abstract

This study examines alienation in two different cultural groups. One sample is Middle Eastern, and the other is American. Students from a transitional society expressed greater feelings of alienation; they felt more powerless and scored higher on the normlessness, meaninglessness, and social isolation scales. These relationships were not altered when socioeconomic status and sex were controlled with one exception—American students with a professional background showed higher normlessness than Middle Eastern respondents of the same occupational level. The variability in results obtained within and across the cultural groups studied is explained in terms of cultural context effects.