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Ivi Introduction
are insufficient, as to what is the truth, and they should be taken only for
what they are. For the outlining of further research they may serve as the
projection of plausible hypotheses.
On the practical side, the aim of this book is to throw light on the future,
and to construct, in a preliminary way, bases for rational policy. This is one
reason why the theoretical analysis will stress interrelations and trends.
Even though reliable prognoses cannot be made in many respects, various
possibilities can be presented and their probabilities estimated.
Explicit value premises will be introduced, usually in the beginning of
each main part of the inquiry. As a source for the value premises, the
relatively comprehensive and definite body of political ideals contained in
the ^^American Creed” will be usedj we shall sketch the historical origin
of the American Creed in the first chapter. The use of explicit value
premises serves three main purposes: (i) to purge as far as possible the
scientific investigation of distorting biases which are usually the result of
hidden biases j (2) to determine in a rational way the statement of problems
and the definition of terms for the theoretical analysis j (3) to lay a logical
basis for practical and political conclusions.®
Our aim is to organize the entire treatise around one single sequence of
thoughts. We shall proceed from the American scene at large to the facts
and problems of Negro life, to the trends, to the specific policies, to their
final integration into the structure of national policies. This plan is, within
limits, the basis of organization for each major part of the inquiry.
The main axes to be drawn through our subject and in accordance with
which we shall organize the materials are pretty much determined by the
object under study. Those of most general relevance are: color, region,
urban-rural residence, social class, education, sex, and age. Comparisons
between Negroes and whites—in such things, for example, as vital indices,
criminality, family patterns—will not be made indiscriminately but, as far
as possible, will be standardized by comparing Negroes with a duly defined
control group of whites, or by comparing subgroups of Negroes and
whites of equal social, economic, and educational status. This attempt is,
however, all too often frustrated through insurmountable difficulties due to
the scarcity of available data.
The book concentrates on present conditions but does not neglect the
future. While it would add to our comprehension to examine the historical
development behind the existing situation, this is beyond the scope of our
inquiry. In a sense and to a degree present conditions and trends can be
analyzed without consideration of their antecedents. This should not be
* The problem of bias, of theoretical and practical research, and of the utilization of the
scientific technique of explicit value premises are treated in Appendix 2, ‘‘A Methodological
Note on Facts and Valuations in Social Science.” The author may be allowed to point out
that a critical study of this inquiry assumes the reading of Appendix 2.
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