The MOS Alienation Scale: An alternative to Srole's Anomia Scale

A growing number of sociologists believe that Srole's Anomia Scale, whether modified or not, is too inclusive to measure anomie in any meaningful way when using survey research techniques among subcultures. Evidence from the National Opinion Research Center's annual General Social Survey, which is a cross-sectional sample of adults in the United States, tends to give credence to this criticism — that is, although Srole's Anomia Scale displays a modest degree of internal reliability, it nevertheless lacks external validity in surveys on national subpopulations. This study illustrates the relative superiority of the Margins of Society (MOS) Alienation Scale, which comprises operations from theories on anomie and social isolation. A subculture of homeless Alaska Natives were personally interviewed to document the attributes of this new alienation scale and the results from this exploratory study suggest that further analysis should prove useful for studying alienation within other ethnic groups.