The Srole Items and Acquiescence

Twelve years ago Lenski and Leggett found that race and class factors produced a strong agreeing tendency to one of the Srole anomie items. Many subsequent applications of the Srole items have failed to take into account the implications of their findings. Most of the research on the subject of acquiescence has been done on the F scale by psychologists who have explained it as a personality characteristic. The technique of comparing scale items to the same items in obverse form has been the principal research technique. The same technique is used here in a sociological perspective. One-half of a sample of poor Southern Negroes was given the Srole items and the other half was given the same items in an obverse form. Analysis shows a strong tendency to agree with both forms despite the fact that they had opposite meanings. The implications of this for the use of the Srole items and similar scales are examined.