The attitudes of college students from differing social strata toward automobiles: An investigation of the anticipatory socialization process

Includes bibliographical references (pages 54-56The design of this paper is to study male college students from three different social strata or classes consisting of 1.) Caucasians from middle-class families, 2.) Caucasians from the working class (blue-collar), and 3.) Chicano students from working-class families. The intent is to determine if the strata of students differ significantly in attitude indexes toward various automobile types and traits. The hypotheses set forth--which are based on previous; academic research--are that the middle-class white college students will exhibit the most favorable attitude toward auto imports in general and economy and compact type cars (both imports and domestic), followed by the working- class white students with the working-class Chicano students showing the least favorable attitude. In addition, it is also hypothesized that working-class Chicano students should exhibit the most favorable attitude toward luxury-status type cars and have the most personal involvement in auto ownership, followed by working-class white students with middle-class white students showing the least favorable attitude and involvement. To obtain attitude indexes or scores from the three differing social strata, a questionnaire was administered to various classes at California State University, Northridge. The data gathered in this study does not confirm the hypotheses. The working-class white and Chicano students exhibit an uneven anticipatory socialization process when moving into the middle-class college environment. Increasing efficiency of communication channels between social classes can be seen as a factor causing over-socialization of middle-class subcultural values by upwardly mobile working-class students. This increased efficiency of communication between social classes scrambles the established patterns of expected social class behavior