Summary
Contents
This unique collection brings together selections from the work that has defined our understanding of racism. Every significant contribution to the analysis of racism over the past 50 years are comprised in this one book, including extracts from Myrdal's An American Dilemma, Cox's Marxist theory, Carmichael and Hamilton's introduction of the term ‘institutional racism’ and recent textual analyses. Ordered chronologically, so that the reader can work through the narrative of changes coherently, each contribution is introduced by the editors and the whole collection is bound together by introductory and concluding chapters. The result is an unparalleled teaching and study resource. No other book presents the highlights, range and complexity of the various attempts to unravel racism, in such a comprehensive and panoramic way.
Chapter 3: Social Pathology: Obstacles to Social Participation
Social Pathology: Obstacles to Social Participation
There are many white people in the United States who are firmly convinced of the inherent inferiority of Negroes, Orientals, Indians, Jews, and other ethnic groups commonly called “races”. On the basis of this belief, and the accompanying feelings, they join in denying to these minority peoples various opportunities for social contacts and cultural participation. So sharply has the line been drawn that many members of these ethnic groups have had no real chance to demonstrate what capacities they do possess. Social barriers prevent achievement, and lack of achievement constitutes a new barrier.'
This passage was written by Stuart Alfred Queen and Jenette Row Gruener in the second edition of their ...
