Middle class Blacks are often classified as status inconsistents because their racial status is lower than their socioeconomic status. It is asserted that individuals with social status imbalances resolve their resulting psychological stress and tension through liberal political behavior. This research project is to provide support for this assertion by examining the political attitudes of middle class Blacks relative to those of middle class whites and lower class Blacks. This project will contribute to this area of study by showing that there are times when status inconsistents resolve the psychological stress and tension produced the adding cognition, other times by altering cognition, and still other times by changing cognition. The PI hopes to show that there are times when class or ethnicity plays a major role in the formulation of middle class Black's political attitudes, but that does not mean that status inconsistency is not a factor in the formation of their public opinion. This PI believes that this was just another way of reducing the stress and tension of the status imbalance. The research design for this project will consist of survey and data analysis. A questionnaire will be designed to solicit individual response to a number of social, political and economic questions. The subjects will be residents of new Castle Country, Delaware.
