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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 9. Economic Inequality - 4. The Conflict of Valuations
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2i8 An American Dilemma
living, Negroes have a peculiar ability to manage a household. Oblique
statements to this effect are often made when discussing this type of popular
theoryj
one social worker in a responsible position came out straight with
the argument. It probably also means that people accustomed to suffer from
want do not feel poverty so much as if they had seen better days. This, of
course, is a much more common popular theory: all over the world the
^^people who have seen better days” are believed to be worse off than other
paupers. In the case of the Negro there is the additional belief that he has
a particularly great capacity to be happy in his poverty. He is a child of
nature. And he has his religion. He can sing and dance.
The rationalizations amount to this: since Negroes are poor and always
have been poor, they are inferior and should be kept inferior. Then they are
no trouble but rather a convenience. It is seldom expressed so bluntly.
Expressions like ^^standard of living” and ^^cost of living’^ are employed
because they have a flavor of scientific objectivity. They avoid hard think-
ing. They enable one to stand for the status quo in economic discrimination
without flagrantly exposing oneself even to oneself. For their purpose
they represent nearly perfect popular theories of the rationalization type.
These are only a few examples to illustrate the way of thinking utilized
in the South of today to justify economic discrimination. In the North there
exists practically nothing of these piled-up, criss-crossing, elaborated
theories. In matters of discrimination the ordinary Northerner is unsophis-
ticated. Most Northerners, even in those parts of the country where there
are Negroes, know only vaguely about the economic discriminations Ne-
groes are meeting in their communities. They are often uninformed of the
real import of those discriminations in which they themselves participate.
It is generally held in the North that such discrimination is wrong.
When the matter occasionafly comes up for public discussion in newspapers
and legislatures, it is assumed that discrimination shall be condemned.
Some states have, as we shall see, made laws in order to curb discrimination
in the labor market. The present writer is inclined to believe that, as far
as such discriminations are concerned, a large majority of Northerners
would come out for full equality if they had to vote on the issue and did
not think of their own occupations. Northern states and municipalities, on
the whole, hold to the principle of nondiscrimination in relief, and this is
probably not only due to considerations of the Negro vote but also in
obedience to the American Creed.
As we shall find, however, there is plenty of economic discrimination in
the North. In situations where it is acute and where it becomes conscious,
the average Northerner will occasionally refer to the interest of himself
and his group in keeping away Negro competition—a thing which seldom
or never happens in the South. On this point he might be cruder. His
rationalizations will seldom go much further than presenting the beliefs
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