Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 33. The American Pattern of Individual Leadership and Mass Passivity - 3. Mass Passivity
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chapter 33. Leadership and Mass Passivity 713
of people. In spite of all this lively organizational activity, America has had
few protracted zealous movements among the people. There has frequently
been popular unrest among farmers and workers in America5
they have
been dissatisfied and have dimly felt the need of one reform or another.
Occasionally there have been bloody clashes: resort to violence both
by employers and by workers in settling labor disputes has, until recently,
been rather characteristic of America. Undoubtedly a general influence on
the course of national and local politics has been exerted by the masses
through democratic elections. But for some reason these forces, working
in the masses, have seldom crystallized into orderly mass organizations.
The trade union movement is one of the oldest in the world, but in
America it has always been comparatively inconsequential. Even with the
active support of the federal government during the ’thirties, instituting
protective legislation unmatched in other democratic countries, it has not
even reached the size of the peak unemployment.*^ The observer is struck
by the importance played by salaried “organizers” and the relative unim-
portance of, or often the lack of, a spontaneous drive from the workers them-
selves. There has never been much of a cooperative movement in America.
Often cooperatives are still petty neighborhood organizations based on the
activity of the individual idealists—the “leaders”—more than on the con-
certed effect of cold economic reasoning and of the desire for independence
and economic power on the part of the mass of consumers. The diverse
activities collectively known as “adult education” in America are often
laudable strivings to disseminate education among the common people by
universities, philanthropic organizations, state and federal agencies, radio
companies, or groups of enlightened community leaders. There is still
little concerted drive for self-education in .civic affairs. There is no sponta-
neous mass desire for knowledge as a means of achieving power and inde-
pendence.
The passivity of the masses in America is, of course, a product of the
nation’s history. The huge immigration through the decades has constantly
held the lower classes in a state of cultural fragmentation. They have been
split in national, linguistic, and religious sub-groups, which has hampered
class solidarity and prevented effective mass organization. Folk movements
require close understanding among the individuals in the group, a deep
feeling of common loyalty, and even a preparedness to share in collective
sacrifices for a distant common goal. Only on a basis of psychological
identification with the interest group is it possible to ask the individual to
renounce his own short-range interests for the group’s long-range ones.
The immigrants have felt social distance to other lower class persons with
different cultural origin. Also because they have difficulty in communicating
*The top estimate of union membership in 1940 was 9 million. Estimates of peak unem-
ployment in 1933-1935 ranged between 10 and 14 million.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
