Social Mobility and Attitude Toward the Political System

Abstract

Three theories about the effect of social mobility on toward the political are examined: cognitive dissonance theory, tension theory, and acculturation theory. Various measures of attitude toward the system that have been employed within these three theoretical contexts are discussed, and the appropriateness of political and personal efficacy scales is suggested. Using these scales to tap attitude toward the system, the relative efficiency of the three theories is assessed by fitting a dummy variable, additive regression model of origin and destination status effects to data obtained from a 1968 national survey. Mean efficacy scores predicted by the additive model are found to represent actual mean scores closely, resulting in the rejection of the cognitive dissonance and tension theories which predict different forms of interaction. The mobility process itself has no unique effects on political or personal efficacy: rather, the mean efficacy of the mobile lies between that of origin and destination statuses, suggesting