Citation

Blau ZS. Am. J. Sociol. 1964; 69(6): 596-608.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1964, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/223691

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Negro mothers expose themselves less than white mothers to child-rearing literature and other sources of information, regardless of class position and, in most instances, of educational level, but they are more often favorable toward experts. Ambivalence toward experts rises with exposure to their writings in all class-color groups, while hostility is inversely related to exposure among whites but not among Negroes. In a social milieu where reading the writings of experts is prevalent, individuals who do not follow the pattern feel constrained to justify their deviance by deprecating experts, but this is not the case where the pattern is rare. Differences in the prevalence of this pattern among middle-class whites and Negroes are conditioned by another structural variable-the proportion of stationary and mobile members among them. The significance of these differences for acculturation processes is discussed.