Dimensions of Internal‐External Locus of Control and the Women's Liberation Movement

Abstract

Fifty feminist (WL) and 50 control subjects were administered Rotter's Internal-External scale and a series of questions concerning their backgrounds and their attitudes about and involvement in the women's movement. Three dimensions emerged from a factor analysis of the I-E items: personal control, protestant ethic ideology, and feminist ideology. T h e WL subjects were more internal than the control subjects in their sense of personal control and more external in protestant ethic ideology (PEI) and feminist ideology. Externality on these two dimensions was shown to be related to involvement in the feminist movement. Rejection of PEI was accompanied by an increased sense of personal internality for the feminists.

The women's liberation movement: Attitudes and action1

“…This mean exceeds even that of the subgroup of four women who said they would "definitely" never marry (X = 40 oo). These finchngs agree with research by Sanger and Alker (1972) who found women's liberatiomsts less traditional in terms of engagement and marriage than controls In the case of career and degree expectations, women most likely to feel their aspirations may be thwarted by discrimmation are most likely to become activistic Those anticipatmg either a B A. or Master's Degree are less likely to have participated in the movement than those aspiring to either a Ph D or a professional degree Regardmg career, those planning to have a career only "until I am married," or "until I have children" are similar in their low level of commitment to the liberation ideology (with means of 3173 and 30 53 respectively). Those who are mtendmg to have a career "except when my children are of preschool age" are substantially more committed (X = 3660), while those who are planning to have a career "at all times" show the highest endorsement of the items (X == 41.55)…”

Differentiating Among Internality, Powerful Others, and Chance

“…For example, according to Rotter's theory, internals should be more likely to participate in social action because they believe their behavior can bring about desired goals. For example, a relationship between black activism and externality was shown in a study by Ransford (1968), and Sanger and Alker (1972) found that feminist activists scored more externally on a dimension of Protestant ethic ideology than did a control group. Studies conducted during the early 1960s supported this reasoning.…”

Citizen Participation and Community Organizations

“…An individual's participation in the community is associated with greater verbal and relational capabilities (Bronfenbrenner, 1960;Gough, 1952). Locus of control (a person's feeling of control over what happens) has been related to political activity (Gurin, Gurin, Lao, & Beattie, 1969) and to activity in the women's movement (Sanger & Alker, 1972).…”