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52

(1944) [MARC] Author: Gunnar Myrdal
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52 An American Dilemma
mobility, together with many other factors of importance, kept the minority
groups contented and bent on assimilation.
Religious differences, differences in fundamental attitudes, and ^^racial”
differences entered early as elements of friction in the process of assimila-
tion and as reasons for discrimination while the process was going on. With
the growing importance of the new immigration from Southern and
Eastern Europe in the decades before the War, these factors acquired
increased importance. They are, in a considerable degree, responsible for
the fact that even recent community surveys, undertaken decades after the
end of the mass immigration, give a picture of American class stratification
which closely corresponds to the differentiation in national groups. This
type of differentiation is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of
the American social order.
The split of the nation into a dominant ^‘American” group and a large
number of minority groups means that American civilization is permeated
by animosities and prejudices attached to ethnic origin or what is popularly
recognized as the ^^race” of a person.® These animosities or prejudices are
commonly advanced in defense of various discriminations which tend to
keep the minority groups in a disadvantaged economic and social status.
They are contrary to the American Creed, which is emphatic in denouncing
differences made on account of ^^racc, creed or color.^^ In regard to the
Negro, as well as more generally to all the other minorities, this conflict
is what constitutes the problem, and it also contains the main factors in the
dynamic development. Taking a cross-sectional view at any point of time,
there is thus revealed an inconsistency in practically every American’s
social orientation. The inconsistency is not dissolved, at least not in the
short run. Race prejudice and discrimination persist. But neither will the
American Creed be thrown out. It is a hasty conclusion from the actual
* The popular term “race prejudice,” as it is commonly used, embraces the whole complex
of valuations and beliefs which are behind discriminatory behavior on the part of the
majority group (or, sometimes, also on the part of the minority group) and which are
contrary to the equalitarian ideals in the American Creed. In this very inclusive sense the
term will be used in this inquiry. It should be noted that little is explained when W’e say
that “discrimination is due to prejudice,” The concept “race prejudice” unfortunately
carries connotations that the intergroup situation is fairly stable and that the complex of
attitudes behind discrimination is homogeneous and solid. (This is, incidentally, the danger
with the concept of “attitude” as it is often usedj see Appendix i.) For a discussion of
the empirical study of race prejudice, see Appendix lo, Section 4.
We do not need to enter into a discussion of whether “anti-minority feelings” in general
are different from the “race prejudices” as they are displayed against Negroes. On the one
hand, people in general also refer the former attitude to what they usually perceive of as
“race.” As Donald Young- points out, there is also something of a common pattern in all
discriminations (see footnote i to this chapter). On the other hand, there is this significant
difierence which we shall stress, that in regard to the colored minorities, amalgamation is
violently denied them, while in regard to all the other minorities, it is welcomed as a long-
run process,

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