An American Dilemma, Volume 1: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy

Gunnar Myrdal

Transaction Publishers, 1996 - Social Science - 812 pages

This landmark effort to understand African-American people in the New World provides deep insight into the contradictions of American democracy as well as a study of a people within a people. The touchstone of this classic is the jarring discrepancy between the American creed of respect for the inalienable rights to freedom, justice, and opportunity for all and the pervasive violations of the dignity of blacks.

Contents

• LIST OF TABLES: xvii
• Introduction to the Transaction Fiftieth Anniversary Edition: xxi
• Authors Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition: xxxiii
• Postscript Twenty Years Later by Arnold Rose: xxxvii
• Foreword by Frederick P Keppel: lv
• Authors Preface to the First Edition: lix
• A Parallel to the Negro Problem 1073: lxv
• Acknowledgments: lxxi
• Introduction: lxxvii
• Valuations and Beliefs: lxxix
• A White Mans Problem: lxxxiii
• Not an Isolated Problem: lxxxiv
• Institutions: lxxxv
• Some Further Notes on the Scope and Direction of This Study: lxxxvii
• A Warning to the Reader: xc
• THE APPROACH: 1
• American Ideals and the American Conscience: 3
• The Spirit of Niagara and Harpers Ferry: 4
• The Protest Is Still Rising: 5
• The Shock of the First World War and the PostWar Crisis: 6
• The Garvey Movement: 7
• The Roots of the American Creed in the Philosophy of Enlightenment: 8
• The Roots in Christianity: 9
• Social Evaluation of the A A: 10
• Constructive Measures: 11
• The Roots in English Law 7 American Conservatism: 12
• The American Conception of Law and Order: 13
• Natural Law and American Puritanism: 15
• The Faltering Judicial Order: 17
• Intellectual Defeatism: 19
• LipService: 21
• Value Premises in This Study: 23
• Encountering the Negro Problem: 26
• To the Negroes Themselves: 27
• Explaining the Problem Away: 30
• Explorations in Escape: 32
• The Etiquette of Discussion: 36
• The Convenience of Ignorance: 40
• Negro and White Voices: 42
• The North and the South: 44
• Facets of the Negro Problem 1 American Minority Problems: 50
• The AntiAmalgamation Doctrine: 53
• The White Mans Theory of Color Caste: 57
• AN AMERICAN DILEMMA: 58
• The Rank Order of Discriminations: 60
• Relationships between Lower Class Groups: 67
• The Manifoldness and the Unity of the Negro Problem: 73
• The Theory of the Vicious Circle: 75
• A Theory of Democracy: 78
• RACE: 81
• Racial Beliefs 1 Biology and Moral Equalitarianism: 83
• The Ideological Clash in America: 84
• The Ideological Compromise: 88
• Reflections in Science: 89
• The Position of the Negro Writers: 93
• The Racial Beliefs of the Unsophisticated: 97
• Beliefs with a Purpose: 101
• The Protest Motive and Negro Personality 1 A Mental Reservation 2 The Struggle Against Defeatism 3 The Struggle for Balance 4 Negro Sensitivene...: 104
• Specific Rationalization Needs: 106
• Rectifying Beliefs: 108
• The Study of Beliefs: 110
• Race and Ancestry 1 The American Definition of Negro: 113
• African Ancestry: 117
• Changes in Physical Appearance: 120
• Early Miscegenation: 123
• AnteBellum Miscegenation: 125
• Miscegenation in Recent Times: 127
• Passing: 129
• Social and Biological Selection: 130
• Present and Future Genetic Composition Trends: 132
• Racial Characteristics 1 Physical Traits: 137
• Biological Susceptibility to Disease: 140
• Psychic Traits 4 Frontiers of Constructive Research: 149
• POPULATION AND MIGRATION: 155
• Population 1 The Growth of the Negro Population: 157
• Births and Deaths: 161
• 50: 162
• Ends and Means of Population Policy: 167
• Controlling the Death Rate: 171
• The Case for Controlling the Negro Birth Rate: 175
• Birth Control Facilities for Negroes: 178
• Migration 182 1 Overview: 182
• A Closer View: 185
• The Great Migration to the Urban North: 191
• Continued Northward Migration: 196
• The Future of Negro Migration: 197
• ECONOMICS: 203
• Economic Inequality: 205
• The Vicious Circle: 207
• Negro Poverty: 208
• The Value Premises: 209
• Compromise Leadership 1 The Daily Compromise 2 The Vulnerability of the Negro Leader 3 Impersonal Motives 4 The Protest Motive 5 The Doubl...: 211
• The Conflict of Valuations: 215
• The Tradition of Slavery 1 Economic Exploitation: 220
• Slavery and Caste: 221
• The Land Problem: 224
• The Tenancy Problem: 227
• The Southern Plantation Economy and the Negro Farmer 1 Southern Agriculture as a Problem: 230
• Overpopulation and Soil Erosion: 231
• Tenancy Credit and Cotton: 232
• The Boll Weevil: 234
• Main Agricultural Classes: 235
• The Negro Landowner: 237
• Historical Reasons for the Relative Lack of Negro Farm Owners: 240
• Tenants and Wage Laborers: 242
• Chapter 12: 243
• The Plantation Tenant: 245
• Trends and Policies 1 Agricultural Trends during the Thirties: 251
• The Disappearing Sharecropper: 253
• The Role of the A A A in Regard to Cotton: 255
• A A A and the Negro: 256
• The Local Administration of the A A: 258
• Mechanization: 259
• Labor Organizations: 261
• Seeking Jobs Outside Agriculture 1 Perspective on the Urbanization of the Negro People: 279
• In the South: 280
• A Closer View: 284
• Southern Trends during the Thirties: 288
• In the North: 291
• A Closer View on Northern Trends: 293
• 83: 296
• The Size of the Negro Labor Force and Negro Employment: 297
• Negro and White Unemployment: 301
• In Southern Cities: 302
• The Negro in Business the Professions Public Service and Other White Collar Occupations 1 Overview: 304
• The Negro in Business: 307
• 113: 312
• Negro Finance: 314
• The Negro Teacher: 320
• The Negro Minister: 321
• The Negro in Medical Professions: 322
• Other Negro Professionals: 325
• In the North: 326
• Negro Officials and White Collar Workers in Public Service: 327
• Negro Professionals of the Stage Screen and Orchestra: 329
• Note on Shady Occupations: 330
• Negro Improvement and Protest Organizations: 331
• The Negro in the Public Economy 1 The Public Budget: 333
• Discrimination in Public Service: 334
• Education: 337
• Public Health: 344
• Recreational Facilities: 346
• Public Housing Policies: 348
• 137: 352
• Social Security and Public Assistance: 353
• Specialized Social Welfare Programs during the Period After 1935: 356
• The Social Security Program: 357
• Assistance to Special Groups: 358
• Work Relief: 360
• Assistance to Youth: 361
• General Relief and Assistance in Kind: 362
• Income Consumption and Housing 1 Family Income: 364
• Income and Family Size: 366
• The Family Budget: 367
• Budget Items: 370
• Food Consumption: 374
• Housing Conditions: 377
• The Mechanics of Economic Discrimination as a Practical Problem 1 The Practical Problem: 380
• The Ignorance and Lack of Concern of Northern Whites: 383
• On the National Scene: 385
• The Regular Industrial Labor Market in the North 3 Migration Policy: 386
• The Problem of Vocational Training: 390
• The SelfPerpetuating Color: 391
• A Position of Indifferent Equilibrium: 392
• Negro Popular Theories 1 Instability: 393
• In the South: 395
• PreWar Labor Market Controls and Their Conse quences for the Negro 1 The Wages and Hours Law and the Dilemma of the Marginal Worker: 397
• Other Economic Policies: 399
• Labor Unions and the Negro: 401
• A Weak Movement Getting Strong Powers: 403
• The War Boomand Thereafter 1 The Negro Wage Earner and the War Boom: 409
• A Closer View: 411
• Government Policy in Regard to the Negro in War Production: 414
• The Negro in the Armed Forces: 419
• 5: 423
• POLITICS: 427
• Underlying Factors 1 The Negro in American Politics and as a Political Issue: 429
• The Wave of Democracy and the Need for Bureaucracy: 432
• The North and the South: 437
• The Southern Defense Ideology: 441
• The Reconstruction Amendments: 445
• Memories of Reconstruction: 446
• The Tradition of Illegality: 448
• Southern Conservatism and Liberalism 1 The Solid South: 452
• Southern Conservatism: 455
• Is the South Fascist?: 458
• The Changing South: 462
• Southern Liberalism: 466
• Political Practices Today: 474
• Trends and Possibilities: 505
• Numbered Footnotes: 1181
• 157: 1184
• 397: 1187
• 220: 1190
• 409: 1201
• 230: 1216
• Accommodating Leadership: 1241
• Index Numbers for Gross Cash Income from: 1244
• 251: 1266
• The Negro Church: 1267
• A Methodological Note on Valuations and Beliefs 1027: 1268
• Chapter 13: 1270
• The Police and Other Public Contacts: 1313
• A Methodological Note on Facts and Valuations: 1314
• Violence and Intimidation: 1325
• 858: 1441
• 429: 1442
• A Methodological Note on the Principle of Cumти: 1444
• Negro Provincialism: 1445
• 720: 1446
• 279: 1447
• 523: 1448
• 452: 1450
• 781: 1451
• lation: 1466
• 535: 1467
• 304: 1469
• 333: 1470
• The Pattern of Violence: 1473
• 364: 1477
• 908: 1481

About the author

Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987) served as Swedish minister of trade and commerce, a Rockefeller Fellow, and wrote An American Dilemma at the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation. He returned to his homeland where he was, until his death, professor at the Institute of International Economic Relations at Stockholm University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: An American Dilemma, Volume 1: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy; African-American studies; Volume 1 of An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy; Black and African-American Studies; Contemporary Austrian Studies
• Author: Gunnar Myrdal
• Contributor: Sissela Bok
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers, 1996
• ISBN: 1560008563, 9781560008569
• Length: 812 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural Heritage; Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies; Social Science / Minority Studies