Alienation and Learning in a Hospital Setting

Abstract

This paper presents a controlled, and situationally specific, test of a common assertion regarding alienation in modern society. The hypothesis is tested that differences in alienation (i.e., in powerlessness) are associated with differential learning of behavior-relevant information. Comparing patients who differ in their degree of alienation, but who are matched for socioeconomic backgrounds and for health and hospital histories, it is shown that the more alienated patients score lower on an objective test of knowledge about tuberculosis. Furthermore, these differences in objective knowledge are reflected in both the staff's description of the patients, and in the patients' attitudes about the information process. In understanding the attitude data, it is shown that the social structure of the ward as well as individual alienation must be taken into account. The relevance of these findings for contemporary viewpoints concerning the significance of alienation is noted.