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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - I. The Approach - 3. Facets of the Negro Problem - 6. The Manifoldness and the Unity of the Negro Problem - 7. The Theory of the Vicious Circle
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Chapter 3. Facets of the Negro Problem 75
merit which could be considered as the continuation, during the ’thirties,
of the ^‘New Negro Movement” of the ’twenties.
We hear it said nowadays that there is no “race problem,” but only a
“class problem.” The Negro sharecropper is alleged to be destitute not
because of his color but because of his class position—and it is pointed out
that there are white people who are equally poor. From a practical angle
there is a point in this reasoning. But from a theoretical angle it contains
escapism in new form." It also draws too heavily on the idealistic Marxian
doctrine of the “class struggle.” And it tends to conceal the whole system
of special deprivations visited upon the Negro only because he is not white.
We find also that as soon as the Negro scholar, ideologist, or reformer
leaves these general ideas about how the Negro should think, he finds
himself discussing nothing but Negro rights, the Negro’s share, injustices
against Negroes, discrimination against Negroes, Negro interests—nothing,
indeed, but the old familiar Negro problem, though in some new political
relations. He is back again in the “race issue.” And there is substantial
reason for it.
The reason, of course, is that there is really a common tie and, therefore,
a unity in all the special angles of the Negro problem. All these specific
problems are only outcroppings of one fundamental complex of human
valuations—that of American caste. This fundamental complex derives
its emotional charge from the equally common race prejudice, from its
manifestations in a general tendency toward discrimination, and from its
political potentialities through its very inconsistency with the American
Creed.
7. The Theory of the Vicious Circle
A deeper reason for the unity of the Negro problem will be apparent
when we now try to formulate our hypothesis concerning its dynamic
causation. The mechanism that operates here is the “principle of cumula-
tion,” also commonly called the “vicious circle.” ^ This principle has a much
wider application in social relations. It is, or should be developed into, a
main theoretical tool in studying social change.
Throughout this inquiry, we shall assume a general interdependence
between all the factors in the Negro problem. White prejudice and
discrimination keep the Negro low in standards of living, health, education,
manners and morals. This, in its turn, gives support to white prejudice.
White prejudice and Negro standards thus mutually “cause” each other.
If things remain about as they are and have been, this means that the two
* See Chapter 3 8, Sections 5 to 7.
**
See Appendix 3, “A Methodological Note on the Principle of Cumulation.” We call
the principle the “principle of cumulation” rather than “vicious circle” because it can work
in an “upward” desirable direction as well as in a “downward” undesirable direction.
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