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Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - I. The Approach - 3. Facets of the Negro Problem - 8. A Theory of Democracy
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8o An American Dilemma
answer was, as we know: the State, Leviathan. Our ow’n tentative answer
to the more specific but still overwhelmingly general question we have
raised above will have something in common with that of the post-Eliza-
bethan materialist and hedonist, but it will have its stress placed differently,
as we shall subsequently see.
Two principal points will be made by way of a preliminary and hypo-
thetical answer, as they influence greatly our general approach to the Negro
problem. The first point is the American Creed, the relation of which to
the Negro problem will become apparent as our inquiry proceeds. The
Creed of progress, liberty, equality, and humanitarianism is not so unin-
fluential on everyday life as might sometimes appear.
The second point is the existence in society of huge institutional struc-
tures like the church, the school, the university, the foundation, the trade
union, the association generally, and, of course, the state. It is true, as we
shall find, that these institutional structures in their operation show an
accommodation to local and temporary interests and prejudices—they could
not be expected to do otherwise as they are made up of individuals with
all their local and temporary characteristics. As institutions they are, how-
ever, devoted to certain broad ideals. It is in these institutions that the
American Creed has its instruments: it plays upon them as on mighty
organs. In adhering to these ideals, the institutions show a pertinacity,
matched only by their great flexibility in local and temporary ’accommo-
dation.
The school, in every community, is likely to be a degree more broad-
minded than local opinion. So is the sermon in church. The national labor
assembly is prone to decide slightly above the prejudice of the median
member. Legislation will, on the whole, be more equitable than the legis-
lators are themselves as private individuals. When the man in the street
acts through his orderly collective bodies, he acts more as an American, as
a Christian, and as a humanitarian than if he were acting independently.
He thus shapes social controls which are going to condition even himself.
Through these huge institutional structures, a constant pressure is
brought to bear on race prejudice, counteracting the natural tendency for
it to spread and become more intense. The same people are acting in the
institutions as when manifesting personal prejudice. But they obey different
moral valuations on different planes of life. In their institutions they have
invested more than their everyday ideas which parallel their actual be-
havior. They have placed in them their ideals of how the world rightly
ought to be. The ideals thereby gain fortifications of power and influence in
society. This is a theory of social self-healing that applies to the type of
society we call democracy.
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