Theories of social change suggest that both anomy and alienation should increase among low-income people experiencing rapid social change. To more sharply distinguish the causal relationship between social change and the state of peoples' minds in rural and semirural areas of the South, separate hypotheses were developed for anomy (Durkheim's anomie) and alienation (Durkheim's egoism). The sample compared data drawn from 23 low-income counties in the six southern states in 1960-61 and in 1972-73, with change in degree of urbanization as the indicator of social change. Factor analysis was used to develop measures of the two dependent variables, alienation and anomy. Data analysis showed that anomy increased while alienation decreased between 1960 and 1973, but as urbanization increased, both anomy and alienation declined, suggesting social change does not always adversely affect psychological states, particularly in parts of society which have lagged behind. Because of the differences between anomy and alienation changes, continued distinction between them was seen as important. Data indicated that increase in anomy may stem not from rapid social change but from lack of urbanization and that alienation decreased more in relation to increasing urbanization--findings with important implications for policy decisions. (RS)