INSIDE NEGRO GROUPS
Locke, Alain
Inside Negro Groups THE NEGRO'S MORALE, by Arnold M. Rose. University of Minnesota Press. 153 pp. $2.50. Reviewed by Alain Locke AVETERAN analyst of the American race problem, with seasoned...
...Indeed, the full understanding of such subtle interaction cannot be drawn from our present rudimentary knowledge...
...Rose rarely, if ever, loses sight of this basic interaction situation, though tied down by his task to the Negro side of the equation...
...It is much to the author's credit that he realizes this, and with wise caution as well as commendable modesty, proceeds to append to his own summary chapter a list of 20 crucial questions for further research, the answers to some of which obviously transcend the narrower scope of Negro-white relations...
...Rose's specific undertaking, though what he has worked out on one important and little-known side of the equation is important new information and can later play its part in the eventual solution of the more basic, underlying questions...
...The historical growth and period fluctuations of this group morale are accurately traced, though the size of the book has seriously limited documentation...
...In view of the combined difficulties, Dr...
...Stuart Cook, in an important introduction to the book, wisely stresses this by analogy in saying: "Anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem, nor is it a Christian problem—it is a Jewish-Christ-ion problem...
...Though tracing primarily Negro psychological group reactions...
...This might escape the superficial reader, however, through not observing that every shift in Negro attitude and strategy moves in reaction to a majority attitude and strategy, though not always at majority initiative...
...But here, as always, so much depends on the interaction between both groups—the majority and the minority...
...Rose has achieved unusual and commendable success...
...II With no cultural differentials to base it on, either of a separate language, religion, mores, or group tradition, the American Negro has developed an unusually high sense of group identification or consciousness of race...
...Rose rightly sees this as a situation almost without precedent, but this reviewer would concur in his cautious forecast, that, barring unexpected conflict issues, the quickening pace of enlarging opportunity, spreading recognition and its resultant satisfactions and the leverage and the security of rapidly increased voting, will canalize the mounting pressures of Negro expectations and demands in progressive non-violent channels, and slowly reduce the Negro's sense of separateness...
...To analyze and assay the function of Negro group-mind-edness, an inner sanctum of the group life, requires not only a psychological pass-key, but, once inside, unusual perspicacity of interpretation...
...Also, except for highly specialized studies, this is the pioneer overall analysis in this field...
...It functions very positively, and increasingly so, as a bond of loyalty providing counter-compensation against prejudice and constructive group incentives of pride, protest reaction, and prestige...
...The Negro's Morale, poses a particularly difficult and delicate task...
...Reviewed by Alain Locke AVETERAN analyst of the American race problem, with seasoned entree to its sociological intricacies, Arnold Rose has wisely recognized that the subject matter of his latest study...
...Noteworthy observations reveal that the Negro's morale, with the exception of a deep "low" in the disillusionments of late Reconstruction (1890-1905), has steadily mounted in a progressive series of "highs" until it is now at what is most obviously a peak point...
...Even an understandable dip during the depression was above normal because of the offsetting stimulus of the Negro's inclusion in the public service programs of the New Deal...
...At its present point of greatest momentum and solidarity, however, Negro morale faces a dilemma which the author shrewdly sees as a crucial question for Negro leadership today—whether to continue to intensify, involving increasingly chronic and dangerous trends toward racialism, or to relax in the face of growing recognition and integration...
...As Dr...
...III Fully to solve the psychological issues of the Negro's group reactions to majority prejudice, one would of necessity have to explore the common denominators of minority group reactions in general, and beyond that the general dynamics of majority-minority interaction...
...For, in addition to opening up for the general reader an important new angle on the racial situation, this study-carries through to a noteworthy distance the detailing of how the Negro has reacted psychologically to his social treatment as a minority in America...
...That, however, was not Dr...
...Rose correctly recognizes, this solidarity, though caused primarily by the external pressures of prejudice and discrimination, is far from being a purely negative force...
Vol. 14 • January 1950 • No. 1
