Generally low achievement among blacks was attributed to general patterns of community oppression. Low achievement motives were linked to the caste-like occupational structure, whereas low achievement value orientations were associated with perceptions of opportunities for mobility among blacks. (Author)

Challenges Robert Michels' argument that both oligarchy and goal displacement are inevitable in protest organizations. Shows that in the Southern Farmers' Alliance, the leadership's pursuit of its own interest in organizational permanence contributed to both the rejection of a potentially successful reform program and the demise of the…

Examines the thesis that ideological beliefs about the poor and about poverty policy are in large measure a function of economic self-interest; the study is based on interviews with 300 white women in the Boston SMSA, representing three income levels. (Author/JM)

Examines the joint effects of race, gender, social class, and family organization on a number of indicators of family interaction, anti-social behavior patterns, educational aspirations, and gender role concepts, using data collected from a random sample of the 14 to 18 year old population of Illinois. (Author/JM)

Summarizes two opposing approaches, explicates Rodman's concept of "the lower class value stretch," devises a conceptual scheme based upon the explication, derives a set of general hypotheses, and applies the hypotheses to some of the key issues in the culture of poverty debate. (Author/JM)

A hypothesis (based on conflict theory) that the police are more likely to use extreme force where economic inequality is most pronounced was tested with data on killings committed by policemen in the United States. The hypothesis was found to accurately predict the number of police-caused homicides. (Author/GC)

Explores factors influencing people to either support or oppose the idea of economic equality, emphasizing that low income people apparently oppose equality: a literature review is interpreted as suggesting the existence of an underlying belief structure consisting of five elements, all of which would have to be present if equality is to be…

In order to determine whether poverty is the result of the work orientation of the poor, a secondary analysis of data obtained from a stratified sample of the Houston population was conducted, controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity: the findings are interpreted as casting doubt on the "culture of overty" hypothesis as it relates to work…

The sources of student discontent are the major concern of this paper. (DM)

Middle-class respondents mistakenly deny that the work ethic is strong among the poor, fundamentally misunderstand how high work ethic leads to increased feelings of insecurity, and mistakenly project for the poor a strong identification of welfare income with income from quasi-illegal sources. (Author)

Reviews briefly the state of comparative empirical research on the culture of poverty, and examines the extent to which the authors' findings, based on a re-analysis of a community survey, lend support to poverty culture arguments. (Author/JM)

Asserts that most research on educational and occupational aspirations assumes that a person has a single level of aspiration, and reports on research focusing directly upon the concept of a range of aspirations, using data from the responses by all ninth grade students in two junior high schools in Highland Park, Michigan, to a questionnaire.…

Deals with the personal relevance of infraction" in variable sociocultural contexts by examining the association between delinquency and adolescent self-conceptions among junior and senior high school students differentiated on the basis of race and status. (Author/JM)

Holds that social violence can best be understood from a perspective of inequality and conflict. Argues against previous theory that views violence by the powerful as normative and violence by the powerless as deviant. Discusses parental violence and differential rates of male and female violence from this new perspective. (GC)