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Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - I. The Approach - 3. Facets of the Negro Problem - 3. The White Man’s Theory of Color Caste
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Chapter 3. Facets of the Negro Problem 59
taining that hindering miscegenation is not a worthwhile end, or that as
an end it is not sufficiently worthwhile to counterbalance the sufferings
inflicted upon the suppressed caste and the general depression of productive
efficiency, standards of living and human culture in the American society
at large—costs appreciated by all parties concerned. This criticism does not,
however, endanger the theory which assumes that white people actualfy
are following another valuation of means and ends and are prepared to
pay the costs for attaining the ends. A second criticism would point out that,
assuming the desirability of the end, this end could be reached without
the complicated and, in all respects, socially expensive caste apparatus now
employed. This criticism, however adequate though it be on the practical
or political plane of discussion, does not disprove that people believe other-
wise, and that the popular theory is a true representation of their beliefs
and actions.
To undermine the popular theory of the caste mechanism, as based on
the anti-amalgamation maxim, it would, of course, be necessary to prove
that people really are influenced by other motives than the ones pro-
nounced. Much material has, as we shall find, been brought together indicat-
ing that, among other things, competitive economic interests, which do not
figure at all in the popular rationalization referred to, play a decisive role.
The announced concern about racial purity is, when this economic motive
it taken into account, no longer awarded the exclusive role as the l^asic
cause in the psychology of the race problem.
Though the popular theory of color caste turns out to be a rationaliza-
tion, this does not destroy it. For among the forces in the minds of the
white people are certainly not only economic interests (if these were the
only ones, the popular theory would be utterly demolished), but also
sexual urges, inhibitions, and jealousies, and social fears and cravings for
prestige and security. When they come under the scrutiny of scientific
research, both the sexual and the social complexes take on unexpected
designs. We shall then also get a clue to understanding the remarkable
tendency of this presumably biological doctrine, that it refers only to
legal marriage and to relations between Negro men and white women,
but not to extra-marital sex relations between white men and Negro women.
However these sexual and social complexes might turn out when
analyzed, they will reveal the psychological nature of the anti-amalgama-
tion doctrine and show its ^^meaning.” They will also explain the com-
pressed emotion attached to the Negro problem. It is inherent in our type
of modern Western civilization that sex and social status are for most indi-
viduals the danger points^ the directions whence he fears the sinister
onslaughts on his personal security. These two factors are more likely than
anything else to push a life problem deep down into the subconscious and
load it with emotions. There is some probability that in America both com-
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