Paranoia and the structure of powerlessness.

@article{Mirowsky1983ParanoiaAT,
  title={Paranoia and the structure of powerlessness.},
  author={John Mirowsky and Catherine E. Ross},
  journal={American sociological review},
  year={1983},
  volume={48 2},
  pages={
          228-39
        }
}
Paranoia is an alienation from others that has gone beyond a sense of disconnection to one of persecution . Very little is known about the relationship of paranoia to sociodemographic variables . However, prior theory and research provide a basis for inference. We argue that social positions characterized by powerlessness and by the threat of victimization and exploitation tend to produce paranoia . Powerlessness leads to the belief that important outcomes in one's life are controlled by… Expand
View on PubMed
skeptiker.ch
238 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
3
Background Citations
72
Methods Citations
4
Results Citations
6

Figures, Tables, and Topics from this paper

238 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Powerlessness and the amplification of threat
A theory of trust is developed and tested. The theory posits that mistrust develops in neighborhoods where resources are scarce and threat is common, and among individuals with few resources and who… Expand
Understanding Paranoia: Toward A Social Explanation
In this paper we seek to offer an essentially sociological explanation of paranoia by way of a detailed examination of the case of an unmarried, ex-school-teacher who for the past 30 years has clung… Expand
Are “they” out to get me? A social identity model of paranoia
This research tests a social identity model of paranoia, building on work showing that identification with social groups is associated with less paranoid thinking. Studies 1 (N = 800) and 2 (N = 779)… Expand
Powerlessness and the amplification of threat: Neighborhood disadvantage, disorder, and mistrust
A theory of trust is developed and tested. The theory posits that mistrust develops in neighborhoods where resources are scarce and threat is common, and among individuals with few resources and who… Expand
The Paranoia of Everyday Life: Some Personal, Psychological, and Pastoral Thoughts
Freud, early in his writings, makes the argument that paranoia results from the repression of distressing memories, paralleling hysteria and obsessional neurosis. The difference, however, is that… Expand
Investigating the relationship between paranoia, attachment and victimisation in a student population
The increasing popularity of dimensional conceptualisations of paranoia has seen a proliferation in research dedicated to this area of study. Within the literature there exists a desire to expound… Expand
Collective Threat, Trust, and the Sense of Personal Control
  • C. Ross
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Journal of health and social behavior
  • 2011
TLDR
The author presents a theory of trust that posits that mistrust develops in places where resources are scarce and threat is common and among individuals with few resources and who feel powerless to avoid or manage the threat. Expand
Persecutory delusions and the conditioned avoidance paradigm: Towards an integration of the psychology and biology of paranoia
TLDR
The psychological significance of the CAR model of antipsychotic drug action is reappraised; this is related to contemporary psychological theories of paranoia, and some normal psychological and biological processes that are pathologically activated in paranoid psychosis are activated. Expand
Delusions as exploitative deception
Non-bizarre delusions are hypothesized to be psychological adaptations which evolved to mitigate the dangerous consequences of social failure. When humans lived in small, kin-based groups, delusions… Expand
The politics of paranoia: paranoid positioning and conspiratorial narratives in the surveillance society
The notion of paranoia is often implicitly reproduced in the work of surveillance researchers. However, in this article I will argue that this notion needs to be interrogated since current… Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 40 REFERENCES
Working-Class Authoritarianism andTolerance of Outgroups:A Reassessment
The hypothesis that members of the working class are less tolerant of " outgroups" than their middle-class counterparts is examined using a national survey of Americans conducted in 1976. The results… Expand
Democracy and Working-Class Authoritarianism
A variety of evidence from many countries suggests that low status and low education predispose individuals to favor extremist, intolerant, and transvaluational forms of political and religious… Expand
Life Stress and Mental Health.
The purpose of the Midtown Project, as it was conceived and initiated by Dr. Thomas A. C. Rennie in the early 1950's, was to ". . . investigate the relationship between mental disorder and the… Expand
The sociogenesis of psychological disorder: an attributional theory.
  • B. Wheaton
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Journal of health and social behavior
  • 1980
TLDR
Comparisons of two contrasting versions of the attributional model show that a simple, linear interpretation of the intervening effects offatalism may be the most adequate and suggestions for elaborations of the basic theory are made. Expand
Authoritarianism as World View
A promising alternative to the psychoanalytic conception of authoritarianism is the "breadth of perspective" approach. Several writers have argued that authoritarianism results, at least in part,… Expand
Social Class and Schizophrenia: A Critical Review and a Reformulation
My intent in this essay is to review a rather large and all-too-inexact body of research on the relationship of social class to schizophrenia and to explore its implications for etiology. Instead of… Expand
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… Expand
A model of mental health, life events, and social supports applicable to general populations.
This research addresses measurement issues, derives a model of the effects of life events on mental health, and tests hypotheses regarding the role of social supports in modifying these effects over… Expand
The Sense of Well-Being: Developing Measures. (Book Reviews: The Quality of American Life. Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions)
SOCIAL CLASS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA.
  • H. Dunham
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • The American journal of orthopsychiatry
  • 1964
TLDR
Results indicate that, although there is a heavy concentration of schizophrenics in the lowest social class, there are no significant differences in its incidence among the other four classes. Expand
...
1
2
3
4
...