Victims of Modernization: Accident Rates and Papago Indian Adjustment

Abstract

Few attempts have been made to construct and apply measures of modernization and of consequent stress which will differentiate members of tribal populations under the impact of developmental change. This study utilizes occupational types as indices of personal modernization and a community scale developed by Patrick (Patrick and Tyroler 1972) as an index of village modernization, in combination with 1969-70 data on accidental injuries as an index of stress sustained by the Papago Indians. These measures are related in an effort to determine whether stress associated with rapid culture change falls more heavily upon (1) modern individuals in modern villages; (2) traditional individuals in modern villages; (3) modern individuals in traditional villages; (4) traditional individuals in traditional villages. By combining these possibilities into a 2 x 2 matrix, and comparing the frequencies of accidental injury in each cell, it was expected that either of the following two inferences would be supported: (1) if rates were high for both modern and traditional individuals in either modern or traditional villages, then stress could be designated an attribute of the community rather than of individual life style; (2) if rates were high for either modern or traditional individuals in both types of community, then stress could be designated an attribute of individual life style rather than the community modernization level. The results confirmed both hypotheses with different intensity. Both traditional and modern individuals in progressive communities had significantly greater accident rates than in conservative communities. Rates for traditional and modern individuals in conservative communities were low and not significantly different. However, when modern and traditional individuals living in progressive communities were compared, rates were twice as high among the former. There is an interaction effect between modern individual and progressive community which greatly elevates the level of stress measured by frequency of accidental injury.