Sociology

Sociological Theory and Race Relations Author(s): E. Franklin Frazier Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jun., 1947), pp. 265-271 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2086515 Accessed: 14-07-2019 07:50 UTC

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American SOCIOLOGICAL

June Volume I2

1947 Review Number 3 The Official Journal of the American Sociological Society

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND RACE RELATIONS*

E. FRANKLIN FRAZIER Howard University

T HE FIRST sociological treatises to be published in the United States were concerned with race relations. In I854

there appeared Henry Hughes' Treatise on Sociology, Theoretical and Practical which undertook to demonstrate that the slave sys- tem was "morally and civilly good" and that "its great and well-known essentials" should "be unchanged and perpetual."' During the same year there appeared George Fitzhugh's Sociology for the South: or the Failure of Free Society, which possessed more signifi- cance because of the political philosophy upon which it was based.2 As indicated in the title, this book was not only a justification of Negro slavery, but was opposed to the democratic theory of social organization. Fitzhugh declared that the Declaration of Independence was opposed to "all govern- ment, all subordination, all order."3 In his attack upon laissez-faire and a competitive society, he stated that a society did not exist in the free countries where each man acted for himself.4 Expressing a philosophy closely

* Paper read before the annual meeting of the American Sociological Society, Chicago, Ill., Decem-

ber 27-30, 1946. 1 Henry Hughes, Treatise on Sociology, Theoreti-

cal and Practical (Philadelphia, i854). 2 George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South: or

the Failure of the Society. (Richmond, i854). See Harvey Wish, George Wish. Propagandist of the Old South (Baton Rouge, La., 1943).

'Ibid., p. I75. 4 Ibid., p. 33.

resembling Fascist doctrines, he declared that liberty, equality and freedom had brought crime and pauperism to Europe and that so- cialism and the struggle of women for equality with men were the results of the failure of a free society. Only in a society built upon slavery and Christianity as the South was built, could morality and discipline be maintained.

The sociological theories of Hughes and Fitzhugh undertook to provide a philo- sophical justification of slavery. Although their sociological theories cannot be ignored in the history of sociological theories of race relations in the United States, they have scarcely any relation to the later develop- ment of sociological thought in this field. Therefore, we shall turn to the so-called fathers of sociology-Ward, Sumner, Gid- dings, Cooley, Small and Ross-who estab- lished sociology as an academic discipline.

Although Lester Ward did not make any specific contribution to the theory of race relations in the United States, his sociological theories contain implications concerning the racial problem. Ward accepted the position of Gumplowicz and Ratzenhofer that the state and other phases of social organization such as caste and class had grown out of group conflict, especially the struggle of races.5 But in accepting the theory of race

'Lester F. Ward, Pure Sociology (New York, 192I), pp. 203-20.

265

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266 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

struggle Ward did not accept the theory of fundamental racial differences. He rejected the theories of Galton concerning superior races and superior classes. In fact, he took

the position that the dominant position of the superior races in the world was due to "the longest uninterrupted inheritance and transmission of human achievement. Through what he termed "sociocracy" or

the scientific control of the social forces by the collective mind, equal opportunities for all races and classes would remove the dif- ferences in achievement in civilization. Fi- nally, he looked forward to the "period in which the races of men shall have all become assimilated, and when there shall be but one race-the human race."7

Sumner's sociological theories have had an influence upon the study of race relations that is still reflected in studies of race rela- tions at the present time. I refer especially to his concept of the mores. First, it should be pointed out that Sumner took the position that "modern scholars have made the mistake of attributing to race much which belongs to the ethos" of a people. Therefore, the most important factor that separated the various races were their mores. In the South, before the Civil War the two races had learned to live together and mores had developed regu- lating their relations. The Civil War had de- stroyed the legal basis of race relations and the resulting conflict and confusion had pre- vented the emergence of new mores. How- ever, new mores were developing along lines different from those advocated by reformers and legislators who could exercise no in- fluence on the character of the developing racial patterns. Myrdal in his An American Dilemma has pointed out the fatalism con- tained in this conception of the problem of race relations and in fact the inapplicability of the concept of mores to a modern urban industrial society.9

Giddings did not offer any broad and

c Ibid., p. 238. 7 Ibid., p. 220.

8William G. Sumner, Folkways (New York, iqo6), p. 74.

9Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma (New York, 1944), Vol. 2, pp. 1031-32.

systematic theory of race relations although he thought his concept of the "consciousness of kind" explained racial exclusiveness. In regard to the racial mixture, he accepted cur- rent notions concerning the instability of mixed races.10 He was of the opinion, how-

ever, that the mental plasticity of mixed

races was an important contribution to the

development of nations. The social dis-

abilities suffered by the Negro and Indian were an indication of the extent to which the social constitution had not become differ- entiated from the social composition of the nation."

Cooley's position in regard to the native endowment of different races is set forth in a criticism of Galton's theories in an essay which appeared in The Annals in i897. In that essay, he pointed out that even Galton admitted that Negroes and whites could not be compared because they do not mingle and compete in the same social order under the same conditions.'2 However, Cooley's socio- logical theory regarding race relations was set forth in his Social Organization. He stated: "Two races of different temperament and capacity, distinct to the eye and living side by side in the same community, tended strongly to become castes, no matter how equal the social system may otherwise be.'"13 In a chapter devoted to caste, Cooley pre- sented a clear analysis of the caste character of race relations in the South. In his Social Process which was published nine years later in i919, he continued his analysis of Negro- white relations in a chapter on "Class and Race." In this chapter he pointed out the lack of positive knowledge of racial dif- ferences but felt it reasonable to assume that during the process of biological differentia- tion of races, mental differences had de-

10 Franklin H. Giddings, The Principles of Sociol- ogy (New York, iq08), pp. 324-35.

Ibid., pp. 3i6-I7. 12 Charles H. Cooley, "Genius, Fame and Com-

parison of Races," which appeared in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, IX (May, I897), pp. I-42, in Charles H. Cooley, Sociological Theory and Social Research (New York, 1930), pp. I21-59.

" Charles H. Cooley, Social Organization (New York, 1923), p. 218.

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SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND RACE RELATIONS 267

veloped.'4 His conclusion was that race should not be dealt with as a separate factor. He recognized that caste and democracy could not be reconciled and hoped for some form of cooperation and good-will between the races. He concluded, however, that Ori- entals should be excluded from the United States and whites from Oriental countries in order not to create racial problems.

The remaining two "fathers" of American Sociology, Ward and Ross, did not make any contributions to sociological theory in regard to race relations. Ross was of the opinion that there was a "Celtic temperament" and that there was no doubt that races differed in re- gard to intellectual ability.15 Moreover, he felt that the more intelligent white race had an obligation to civilization to prevent Ne- groes from overwhelming it by mere numbers. He did not believe, however, that the su- perior race should exploit or mal-treat the inferior race.

In discussing the development of socio- logical theory and race relations, one cannot overlook a book by one of Giddings' stu- dents which had considerable influence on thinking in regard to the Negro. In i9io Odum published his Social and Mental Traits of the Negro, which became for many students a source of information on the mental and social condition of the Negro. When one views today the opinions expressed in the book, it is clear that they reflect not only outmoded conceptions concerning primi- tive people but all the current popular prej- udices concerning the Negro.

The point of view of Odum's book was that the Negro was primarily a social problem and would remain a social problem because he could not be assimilated. It is not strange, therefore, that in the treatment of the Negro as a social problem there is an implicit socio- logical theory concerning race relations. We might take as typical of the first two decades of the present century two books. In his

4 Charles H. Cooley, Social Process (New York, I925), pp. 274 ff.

5 Edward A. Ross, Principles of Sociology (New York, 192I), pp. 59 ff. In his autobiography Seventy Years of It (New York, 'Q36), pp. 276 if., Ross repudiated his former notions concerning racial dif- ferences.

Sociology and Modern Social Problems, first published in i9i0, Ellwood devoted a chapter to the Negro problem. In this chapter it is assumed that the Negro has a "racial" tem- perament and that his "shiftlessness and sensuality" are partly due to heredity and that he is inferior in his adaptiveness to a complex civilization. The infiltration of white blood is responsible for ambition and superi- ority on the one hand and vice and immorality on the other. It is not strange that since "industrial education" was one of the shibo- leths at the time, industrial training is re- garded as one of the means of solving the problem. The problem of the Negro is rec- ognized to be a moral problem-not in the sense that Myrdal said that it was a moral problem; namely, the moral obligation of whites to live up to the American creed of human equality. According to Ellwood, it is a moral problem in the sense that the so- cially -superior race should have good will and assist the socially inferior race on the other side of the fence.

The second book on social problems, first published in I920, by Dow, not only re- gards the Negro as an unassimilable element in the population but proposes his gradual segregation in a single area or state.' Dow accepts as true many of the stereotypes con- cerning the racial traits of the Negro but states that he believes selection and environ- ment are stronger. While Ellwood thinks that more white teachers should be employed to help the inferior Negro race, Dow thinks that white teachers should not be employed because of the possible tendency toward social equality. White teachers from the North did more harm than good, and the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was the worst political blunder in the history of the American people. Northern people do not understand Negro nature. Mulattoes are addicted to crime because, as Dow states, they have the degenerate blood of good white families. Industrial education is a partial solution and caste is the solution for the present though ultimate segregation is neces- sary.

1 Grove S. Dow, Society and Its Problems (New York, 1920), pp. 157 ff.

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268 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

In considering these books, one should not

overlook an article by Weatherly which ap- peared in the Journal in i910 on "Race and Marriage."17 The author took the position that there was a natural aversion to inter- marriage which was designed to preserve race

purity as a necessary condition for social development. Another article along similar lines, entitled "The Philosophy of the Color Line" by Mecklin appeared in the Journal in I9I3.18 This writer found justification for "white supremacy" in the necessity to pre- serve purity.

The sociological theory in regard to race relations which was current during the first two decades of the present century was doubtless not unrelated to public opinion and the dominant racial attitudes of the American people. The racial conflict in the

South had subsided and the North had ac- cepted the thesis that the South should solve the racial problem. The southern solution had been the disfranchisement of the Negro

and the establishment of a quasi-caste system in which the Negro was segregated and re- ceived only a pittance of public funds for education and social services. The famous formula of Booker T. Washington, involving

the social separation of the races and in- dustrial education, had become the accepted guide to future race relations. The socio- logical theories which were implicit in the writings on the Negro problem were merely rationalizations of the existing racial situa- tion.

During this period there began to emerge a sociological theory of race relations that was formulated independent of existing pub- lic opinion and current attitudes. As early as 1904, W. I. Thomas presented in an article entitled "The Psychology of Race Prejudice," in the Journal, a systematic theory of race relations.'9 Thomas undertook first to de-

7 Ulysses G. Weatherly, "Race and Marriage,"

American Journal of Sociology, Vol. I5 (09IO), pp. 433-53.

"I John M. Mecklin, "The Philosophy of the Color-Line," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. I9 (1913), pp. 343-57.

' William I. Thomas, "The Psychology of Race Prejudice," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 9, PP. 593-6iI.

termine the biological basis for the phenom- enon of race prejudice. He thought that he discovered this in certain reflex and instinc- tive reactions of the lower animals to strange elements in their environment. But in the case of human beings, he held that the de- velopment of sympathetic relations was the important factor. Sympathetic relations were most highly developed within the family group and only gradually included larger social groupings. Although race prejudice had an organic basis and could not be reasoned with, it could be dissipated through human association. Thus Thomas assumed that race prejudice could be destroyed and he did not assume that people of divergent racial stocks must inevitably remain apart or could only live together in the community where a caste system existed. The relation between caste and race prejudice is summed up by him in the following statement:

Psychologically speaking, race-prejudice and caste-feeling are at bottom the same thing, both being phases of the instinct of hate, but a status of caste is reached as the result of competitive activities. The lower caste has either been con- quered and captured, or gradually outstripped on account of the mental and economic inferior- ity. Under these conditions, it is psychologically important to the higher caste to maintain the feeling and show of superiority, on account of the suggestive effect of this on both the inferior caste and on itself; and signs of superiority and inferiority, being thus aids to the manipulation of one class by another, acquire a new significance and become ineradicable. Of the relation of black to white in this country it is perhaps true that the antipathy of the southerner for the negro is rather caste-feeling than race-prejudice, while the feeling of the northerner is race-prejudice proper. In the North, where there has been no contact with the negro and no activity connec- tions, there is no caste-feeling, but there exists a sort of skin-prejudice-a horror of the external aspect of the negro-and many northerners re- port that they have a feeling against eating from a dish handled by a negro. The association of master and slave in the South was, however, close, even if not intimate, and much of the feel- ing of physical repulsion for a black skin dis- appeared.20

"' Thomas, op. cit., pp. 609-io.

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SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY AND RACE RELATIONS 269

Thus as early as I904 Thomas had shown the caste character of race relations in the South and had shown how race relations there differed from race relations in the North. Moreover, Thomas in another article had undertaken to show how social and mental isolation had been responsible for the failure of the Negro to make outstanding achieve- ments in civilization.

The sociological theories of Park in regard to race relations were developed originally in close association with Thomas. Park, who was observing race relations in the South, was in constant communication with Thomas. Park's theories which represent the most com- prehensive and systematic sociological theo- ries of race relations developed by American sociologists and have had the greatest in- fluence on American sociology began to ap- pear at a time when the Negro problem was assuming a new character in American life. The migration of Negroes to the metro- politan areas of the North had destroyed the accommodation that had been achieved to some extent following the racial conflict dur- ing and following Reconstruction. The pub- lication of Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park and Burgess coincided with the study of the race riot in Chicago in i919. The new impact of the Negro problem on American life undoubtedly helped Park as much as his experience in the South in the formulation of a sociological theory.

For Park the phenomenon of race relations is to be studied within his general sociological frame of reference-competition, conflict, ac- commodation, and assimilation. "Nowhere do social contacts so readily provoke conflicts as in the relations between the races, par- ticularly when racial differences are re-en- forced; not merely by differences of culture, but of color."22 Concerning the nature of race prejudice he wrote:

Race prejudice, as we call the sentiments that support the racial taboos, is not, in America at least, an obscure phenomenon. But no one has

21"W. . Thomas, "Race Psychology: Standpoint and Questionnaire," The American Journal of So- ciology, Vol. I7, pp. 745, ff.

' Robert E. Park, Introduction to the Science of Sociology (Chicago, I924), p. 578.

yet succeeded in making it wholly intelligible. It is evident that there is in race prejudice, as distinguished from class and caste prejudice, an instinctive factor based on the fear of the un- familiar and the uncomprehended. Color, or any other racial mark that emphasizes physical differences, becomes the symbol of moral diver- gences which perhaps do not exist. We at once fear and are fascinated by the stranger, and an individual of a different race always seems more of a stranger to us than one of our own. This naive prejudice, unless it is re-enforced by other factors, is easily modified, as the intimate rela- tions of the Negro and white man in slavery show.23

Although Park held that there was an in- stinctive element in race prejudice, he never- theless stated that the conflict of culture was a more positive factor in race prejudice. The central fact in the conflict of culture was, he wrote, "the unwillingness of one race to enter into personal competition with a race of a different or inferior culture." In a later ar- ticle he made the factor of status the most important element in race prejudices.24 In making status the most important factor in race prejudice, Park took the position that race prejudice was based upon essentially the same attitudes as those at the basis of class and caste. A prejudiced reaction to members of another race is the normal tendency of the mind to react to individuals as members of categories. The categories into which people are placed generally involve status. Since the Negro is constantly rising in America, he arouses prejudices and ani- mosities. Race prejudice is "merely an ele- mentary expression of conservatism."25

Up to about 1930, Park's sociological theo- ry in regard to race relations in the United States did not go beyond the theory of a biracial organization in which vertical social distance between the two races would be- come a matter of horizontal social distance. A biracial organization would preserve race dis- tinctions but it would change its content in

23 Ibid., p. 578. ' Robert E. Park, "The Basis of Race Prej-

udice," THE AMERICAN NEGRO. The Annals, Vol. I40 (I928), pp. II-20.

'Park, op. cit., p. I3.

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270 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

that there would be a change in attitudes. The races would no longer look up and down but across.26 The development of the biracial organization marked a fundamental change in status since the Negro was acquiring the status of a racial or cultural minority. In an

article published in I939, Park presented the case of the American Negro in the general frame of reference which he had developed for the study of race relations in the modern world.27 In that article he showed how the migration of the Negro to northern cities had changed the character of race relations and he pointed out that caste was being undermined and that the social distance be- tween the races at the different class levels was being undermined. Moreover, he re- garded race relations in the United States as part of a world process in which culture and occupation was coming to play a more im- portant role than inheritance and race. Thus for Park, the "racial frontiers" that were developing in various parts of the world were the seed-beds of new cultures.

In Park's development of a sociological theory in regard to race relations, there are several important features which are signif- icant for the future of sociological theory in this field. The original emphasis of his theory was upon the social psychological aspects of race contacts. It was concerned primarily with providing an explanation of behavior in terms of attitudes. This was not only peculiar to Park's theory but it was characteristic of the theories of other scholars. In this con- nection one might cite Faris' penetrating analysis of race prejudice in an essay en- titled, "Race Attitudes and Sentiments."28 In the social psychological approach there was a tendency to ignore or pay little attention to the structural and organizational aspects of race relations on the one hand and the dynamic aspects of the problem on the other. The so-called "caste and class" school of stu-

26Ibid., p. 20. ' Robert E. Park, "The Nature of Race Rela-

tions," in Edgar T. Thompson (Ed.), Race Rela- tions and the Race Problem (Durham, N.C., I939).

' Ellsworth Faris, The Nature of Human Nature (New York, I937), pp. 3I7-28.

dents of race relations who have challenged the position of the sociologist has focused at- tention upon this phase of the problem. How- ever, it should be pointed out that while the "caste and class" school has focused atten- tion upon the structural aspects of race re- lations, they have only documented the con- cept of caste. They have not provided any new insights concerning the attitudes and be- havior of whites and Negroes. Since the con- cept of caste has been an essentially static concept, it has failed to provide an orienta- tion for the dynamic aspects of race relations. This brings us to another phase of the socio- logical theories of Park in regard to race relations.

Park's sociological theory was originally a static theory of race relations. His theory not only contained the fatalism inherent in Sumner's concept of the mores. His theory was originally based upon the assumption that the races could not mix or mingle freely. This is apparent even in his concept of the biracial organization. But as Park saw the changes which were occurring in the United States and other parts of the world, he modi- fied his theory to take into account these changes. His latest theory of race relations in the modem world took into account the dynamic elements in the situation. It re- mains for his students and other scholars to make a more precise formulation of these theories through research and reflection.

This last statement seems appropriate since Park's last formulation of his theory of race relations indicates a trend in research, only a brief reference to which can be made here. Current sociological research has not only discarded the older assumptions about racial characteristics but it is approaching the problem of "race relations" from a dif- ferent standpoint. For the sociologist the problem of "race relations" has become a problem of inter-group relations. This change in viewpoint, it might be pointed out, is evi- dent even in the programs of so-called "inter- cultural education" which are gradually be- comino programs of "inter-group" relations. Sociological theory has had some influence on this new orientation.

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SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 27I

In summary, the development of socio- logical theory in regard to race relations may be stated as follows:

(i) The sociological theories of the found- ers of American sociology as an academic discipline were only implicitly related to the concrete problems of race relations. Their

theories concerning race relations were de- rived from European scholars who were con- cerned with the universal phenomenon of race contact. Cooley was an exception in that he offered an analysis of race relations in the South based upon his theories of the origin and nature of caste and its relation to class.

(2) Sociological theories relating to the concrete problems of race relations in the United States were implicit in the sociological analysis of the Negro problem as a social problem. The analysis of the Negro problem was based upon several fairly clear assump- tions: that the Negro is an inferior race be- cause of either biological or social heredity or both; that the Negro because of his physi- cal character cannot be assimilated; and that physical amalgamation is bad and undesir- able.

(3) The sociological theories implicit in the studies of the Negro problem were de- veloped during the period when the nation held that the attempt to make the Negro a citizen was a mistake and a new accommoda- tion of the races was being achieved in the South under a system of segregation. There-

fore, these theories were rationalizations of American public opinion and the dominant attitudes of the American people.

(4) Sociological theory in regard to race relations began to assume a more systematic formulation following the first World War. Park was the chief figure in the formulation of this sociological theory which provided the orientation for empirical studies of race re- lations. These studies were based upon the theory that race was a sociological concept and utilized such social psychological tools as attitudes and social distance and Sumner's concept of the mores. As the relation of the Negro to American life changed and the prob- lems of race relations throughout the world became more insistent Park developed a more dynamic theory of race relations.

(5) A so-called new school of thought, utilizing the concept of caste and class, has undertaken new studies of race relations. Whereas this new school has focused atten- tion upon the neglected phase of race rela- tions-the structural aspects-it has docu- mented the concept of caste rather than pro- vided new insights.

(6) What is needed is the further develop- ment of a dynamic sociological theory of race relations, which will discard all the ration- alizations of race prejudice and provide ori- entation for the study of the constantly changing patterns of race relations in Ameri- can life.

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS*

HERBERT BLUMER University of Chicago

HIS paper is confined to a considera-

T tion of the kinds of theorizing and re- search in the field of industrial rela-

tions being made today by sociologists and to an expression of judgment as to the rea- sons for the inadequacy of such theorizing and research.

* Paper read before the annual meeting of the American Sociological Society, Chicago, Illinois, De- cember 27-30, I946.

Since much of this theorizing and research has blossomed forth under the current rubric of "Industrial Sociology" I think it fitting first of all to say a few words about this re- cent sociological interest. It must be appar- ent to a sociologist that a great deal of the current interest in, and enthusiasm for, a field of industrial sociology has the aspects of faddish concern, paralleling similar outbursts of excitement by sociologists over new fields in the recent history of American sociology.

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