ABSTRACT
Unalaska has been regarded by non-Natives as a frontier community because of its relative isolation from urban centers and its economic dependence on the exploitation of primary resources. Although the city possesses the accoutrements of modern urban living, to many from other parts of the United States, the community retains a frontier image. The traditional value system is largely associated with the Aleut population but is also possessed in varying degrees by the older non-Aleut, permanent residents of Unalaska. Social status in Unalaska is determined on the basis of several different criteria from the traditional, frontier and modern value systems. Among the non-Aleuts of the community, there are few families with more than one generation in Unalaska. The role of wealth in determining social status in Unalaska is changing. Before the boom in the fisheries there were, generally speaking, two economic classes of individuals in Unalaska: the haves and the have-nots.
