Racial Differences in Political Orientations: Identification Vs. Alienation
Davies (1969) has used the Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears (1939) frustrationagression hypothesis to argue that the likelihood of revolution increases when there is a sudden increase in the gap between expectations and actual payoffs (particularly economic). Feierabend, Feierabend, and Nesvold (1969) obtained cross national data that supported this formulation since increasing education coupled with lack of increase in income was associated with higher internal instability. Gurr (1969, 1972) also found support for this formulation using cross national data, but Snyder and Tilly’s (1972) analyses of events occurring within France over a 130-year period did not support the Davies hypothesis. Levy (1970) utilized a national sample of adults in the U. S., instead of macro data, and found that systemic punishment (i.e., objective devremental payoffs within institutional settings, such as lower education, low income, etc.) was positively related to support for governmental authority rather than to increased hostility. Further, systemic punsihment was positively related to authoritarianism (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950; Rokeach, 1960) and both were cumulatively related to support for governmental authority (Levy-. 1971). However, although blacks were, on the average, more systemically punished than whites, they were more antogonistic to the government when it was described as acting unjustly. Within racial subgroups, however, the relationships among the variables were similar. It was hypothesized that when symbols for identification are lacking and the cost of identification with authority is too great (e.g., identification leads to continuing punishment), withdrawal occurs which precedes identification with militant leaders opposed to quthority. Data from residents of Detroit after the 1967 riot were consistent with the hypothesis (levy, 1971). This conceptualization is also consistent with arguments and supporting evidence offered by Crawford and Naditch (1970) and Paige (1970) based upon data collected within the riot period of the 1960’s. To test the possibility that there is a long-term difference in political orientation between blacks and whites and to test Levy’s finding of greater black political .alienation it was hypothesized that: 1. Blacks would indicate less legitimacy of the government, less attachment to national symbols and less support for the use of institutional force and police force. 2. Based upon the hypothesis that systemic punishment leads to cognitive rigidity and identification with leaders, blacks would show less tolerance for complexity and there would be a smaller racial difference in ideological commitment when that commitment was not associated with dominant societal institutions. 3. Finally, if the alienation of blacks is due to particular experiences-not shared by whites, the differences between the racial subgroups will not be completely accounted for by common factors such as education, income, and age.