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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Social Inequality - 28. The Basis of Social Inequality - 5. Beliefs Supporting Social Inequality
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Chapter 28. The Basis of Social Inequality 583
discrimination.”^^ The ordinary vicious circle—^that the actual inferiority
of the Negro masses gives reason for discrinlination against them, while
at the same time discrimination forms a great encumbrance when they
attempt to improve themselves—is, in the social sphere, loaded with the
desire on the part of lower class whites, and also perhaps the majority of
middle and upper class whites, that Negroes remain inferior.
This fact that a large class of whites is not much better off than the
masses of Negroes, economically and culturally, while whole groups of
Negroes are decidedly on a higher level—in this situation when a general
segregation policy protecting all whites against all Negroes has to be justi-
fied—makes the beliefs in the racial inferiority of Negroes a much needed
rationalization. We have studied the racial stereotypes from this very
viewpoint in an earlier chapter.* We pointed out that the racial inferiority/
doctrine is beginning to come into disrepute with people of higher educa
tion and is no longer supported by the press or by leading public figures.
As a result, racial beliefs supporting segregation are undoubtedly losing
some of their axiomatic solidity even among the masses of white people,
although they still play a dominant role in pppular thinking.
A tendency to exaggerate the lower class traits of Negroes also is apparent.
This would seem to meet the need for justification of the caste order. We
are being told constantly that all Negroes are dirty, immoral and unreli-
able. Exceptions are mentioned, but in an opportunistic fashion those
exceptions are not allowed to upset the absolutistic theses. The fact that
the average white man seldom or never sees an educated Negro** facilitates
the adherence to the stereotypes. Even people who are modern enough
not to regard these traits as biological and permanent find in them reasons
to keep Negroes at a social distance. The feeling may be that Negroes have
capacity but that it needs to be developed, and that takes a long time
—
^‘several centuries,” it is usually said. Often it is argued that the low morals
and the ignorance of Negroes are so prevalent that Negroes must be
quarantined. It is said that at the present time any measure of social
equality would endanger the standards of decency and culture in white
society. It is also pointed out that Negroes are different in physical appear-
ance even if they have the same basic mental capacity and moral propen-
sities. These differences are claimed to be repugnant to the white man.
Occasionally this repugnance is admitted to be an irrational reaction, as in
the following comment by a young, middle class man of Savannah;
You can’t get a white man in the South to call them “Mr.” I don’t say “Mr.”
because it makes me feel uncomfortable. 1 know that’s prejudice, but it’s instinctive
and not reasoning.^^
* See Chapter 4.
^See Chapter 30, Section a.
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