Resignation as a Response to Alienation in a Depressed Rural Area: A Case Study of Poverty and Lack of Opportunity in 4 Counties of Eastern Oklahoma

Abstract

Abstract. Recently a four‐county depressed area was studied in Oklahoma. Normally depressed areas record losses in population, but an Economic Development Administration‐financed industrial park in one of the counties was successful in attracting industry, which also was expanding in adjoining counties in Arkansas. Almost half of the high school seniors had moved into the rural depressed area in the five years prior to the study. Many of the families moved from Tulsa and western urban areas, indicating a rejection of urban living. Although jobs were available for many of the patents, there were too few for both parents and recent high school graduates. High school seniors and graduates both scored high on Srole's anomie test. This group adapted to alienation by resignation. In the first year or so after high school, most of the graduates elected to remain in the area at low paying jobs; their anomie test scores dropped slightly but remained quite high. Little job counseling was provided.