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The article focuses on how black athletes cope with the dual elements of the student-athlete role. There is a substantial amount of descriptive literature which graphically details the many problems facing blacks within the intercollegiate sports arena. In spite of this store of information, there is a paucity of data on the academic success of black student athletes as indicated by their rate of graduation from the same colleges and universities which were so intent on securing the services of their athletic talents. The paper examines the graduation patterns of black student athletes in the case of University of Illinois. Black Illinois student-athletes had, as ascertained from our interviews, two basic goals: obtain a degree and play professional sports. Sixty-five percent, however, failed to earn a degree and only 14 advanced to a career in professional sports. The limited accomplishments were predictable, when viewed in retrospect. Entering the University of Illinois with deficient scholastic preparation they then had to cope with the negative aspects of the athletic, academic and social environments.

The article discusses issues related to subjective powerlessness in the U.S. The paper focuses on changes since 1952 in citizen efficacy or feelings of control over government for various sub-groups in the U.S. population such as blacks, blue collar workers, Southerners, Jews, young and old people. As with most issues in the study of social change, there is widespread disagreement on trends in citizen efficacy for industrial societies such as the U.S. Most theory predicts trends in objective powerlessness, rather than subjective powerlessness, although it is possible that trends in objective powerlessness do not match trends in subjective powerlessness. Within the U.S. at each point of observation, powerlessness does not vary much by stratum, except when education and race are used as indicators. And within the white population, some of the differences are heavily explained by educational differentials. It therefore seems fair to conclude that white subordinate interest groups are not oriented toward government as a result of what would seem to be objective powerlessness but more on the basis of their educational achievement.