University Size-Complexity, Academic Profession and Faculty Alienation

University size-complexity and academic professional area were related to alienation of faculty members measured in two dimensions (the feeling of powerlessness and the degree of involvement) and with respect to two systems (the university and the society). It was hypothesized that alienation of faculty would vary positively with size-complexity of university. An exploratory analysis was conducted relating alienation to professional area, the areas being humanities, social sciences and physical sciences. Size-complexity was measured by an index of number of divisions, number of degrees offered, number of majors available and number of full-time students. A questionnaire including 47 items measuring alienation was returned by 776 of the 1356 subjects. Results from the analysis of variance, in general, provided support for the size-complexity hypotheses, although amount of variation accounted for was quite small. The results suggest the need to differentiate types of alienation as well as varying bases of these types.