Table Of ContentPERGAMON GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY SERIES
Editor: Arnold P. Goldstein, Syracuse University
Leonard Krasner, SUNY, Stony Brook
TITLES IN THE PERGAMON GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY SERIES
(Added Titles in Back of Volume)
Vol. 1. J. WOLPE- The Practice of Behavior Therapy, Second Edition
Vol. 2. T. ΜAGOON et al-Mental Health Counselors at Work
Vol. 3. J. UcOk^lEL-Physical Disability and Human Behavior, Second Edition
Vol. 4. M.L. KAPLAN et al-The Structural Approach in Psychological Testing
Vol. 5. H.M. LaFAUCI & P.E. KICKY^K-Team Teaching at the College Level
Vol. 6. H.B. PEPINSKY et al-People and Information
Vol. 7. A.W. SIEGMAN & B. ?0?E-Studies in Dyadic Communication
Vol. 8. R.E. JOHNSON-Existential Man: The Challenge of Psychotherapy
Vol. 9. C.V^.TAYLOR-Climate for Creativity
Vol. 10. H.C. RICK ARO-Behavioral Intervention in Human Problems
Vol. 11. P.EKMAN, W.V. FRIESEN & P. ELLSV/ORTH-Emotion in the Human Pace:
Guidelines for Research and an Integration of Findings
Vol. 12. B. MAUSNER & E.S. PLATT-5moA:m^; A Behavioral Analysis
Vol. 14. A. GOLDSTEIN-Psychotherapeutic Attraction
Vol. 15. F. HALPERN-^wmVfl/; Black/White
Vol. 16. K. SALZINGER & R.S. FELDUAN-Studies in Verbal Behavior: An Empirical
Approach
Vol. 17. H.E. ADAMS & W.K. BOARDMAN-Advances in Experimental Clinical
Psychology
Vol. 18. R.C. ZILLER-r/ie Social Self
Vol. 19. R.P. LIBERMAN -A Guide to Behavioral Analysis ά Therapy
Vol. 22. H.B. PEPINSKY & M.J. ΡΑΤΤΟΝ-Γ/ze Psychological Experiment: A Practical
Accomplishment
Vol. 23. T.R. YOUNG-A^ew Sources of Self
Vol. 24. L.S. WATSON, JR.-Child Behavior Modification: A Manual for Teachers,
Nurses and Parents
Vol. 25. H.L. NEWBOLD-TTie Psychiatric Programming of People: Neo-Behavioral
Orthomolecular Psychiatry
Vol. 26. E.L. ROSSI-Dreams and the Growth of Personality: Expanding Awareness in
Psychotherapy
Vol. 27. K.D. O'LEARY & S.G. O'LEARY-Cto/Oom Management: The Successful Use
of Behavior Modification
Vol. 28. K.A. FELDMAN- College and Student: Selected Readings in the Social
Psychology of Higher Education
Vol. 29. B.A. ASHEM & E.G. ?OSER-Adaptive Learning: Behavior Modification with
Children
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for revised editions and new titles.
Towards the Elimination of Racism
Phyllis A. Katz
Editor
Sponsored by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
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Copyright © 1976, Pergamon Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Katz, Phyllis A.
Towards the elimination of racism.
(Pergamon general psychology series; no. 54)
"Sponsored by the Society for the Psychological Study
of Social Issues."
Includes bibliographies.
1, United States-Race question-Addresses, essays,
lectures. I. Title.
E185.615.K3 301.45Ό973 74-28030
ISBN 0-08-018316-6
ISBN 0-08-018317-4 pbk.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechan
ical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Printed in the United States of America
This volume is dedicated to Martin and Alice who let me pursue my own
thing in spite of contrary stereotypes, and to Aron, Martin 2, and Margaret who
are equally understanding.
The Editor
Phyllis A. Katz (Ph. D., Yale University) is currently a Professor in the
Education and Developmental Psychology doctoral programs at the City Univer
sity of New York. Her major areas of professional interest are the development
and modification of children's inter-group attitudes and behavior, and she has
published papers in a number of professional journals in this field. She serves on
the editorial boards of several journals in developmental psychology and consults
for a variety of governmental and private agencies. She is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association, and a member of a number of other
professional organizations in psychology and education.
IX
Contributors
Dr. Yehuda Amir Eric Hirschhorn, Esq.
Department of Psychology Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft
Bar-Ilan University, Israel New York, N.Y.
Dr. Richard Ashmore Dr. Phyllis A. Katz
Department of Psychology Graduate Center
Livingston College of City University of New York
Rutgers University New York, N.Y.
New Brunswick, N.J.
Sherrie L. Mazingo
Dr. Mark A. Chesler Department of Communication
Sociology Department Michigan State University
University of Michigan East Lansing, Mich.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Esq.
Dr. Frances K. DelBoca Commissioner
Rutgers University New York City Commission on
New Brunswick, N.J. Human Rights
New York, N.Y.
Dr. Samuel L. Gaertner
Psychology Department Dr. Myron Rothbart
University of Delaware Department of Psychology
Newark, Del. University of Oregon
Eugene, Ore.
Dr. Bradley S. Greenberg
Department of Communication Dr. T.A. Weissbach
Michigan State University Department of Psychology
East Lansing, Mich. Pomona College
Claremont, Cal.
Preface
My need to participate in a volume of this kind began with an experience I
had on the Chesapeake Bay Ferry when. I was eight years old. I was thirsty and
walked over to the water fountain marked "colored," eagerly anticipating the
green, purple, and orange streams of water. The shock and outrage I felt upon
being rudely informed that the sign did not refer to the water have still not
diminished.
The issue of how such outrage towards inequitable treatment of individuals
because of their membership in particular ethnic and racial groups has been
transformed into social science research is the underlying theme of this book.
Social scientists have exhibited considerable fascination with the problem of
racism for at least four decades. This volume seeks to assess what can be distilled
from these efforts, and to indicate where future research is leading. The
emphasis throughout is on the question of how negative interracial attitudes and
behavior can be changed.
The effort that went into this undertaking was truly a joint one, and
invaluable assistance was received from many sources. The Society for the
Psychological Study of Social Issues generously supported the preparation of
this volume both financially and emotionally. Although many individuals were
involved, I would especially Uke to thank Marcia Guttentag, Bert Raven, Richard
Schmuck, and Caroline Weichlein for their help in seeing it through. Gratitude is
also extended to the many individuals who served as critical advisors for portions
of the manuscript and provided many useful ideas. The participation of Chester
Pierce, Claire Selltiz, Hylan Lewis, Charles Thomas, and John Robinson is
gratefully acknowledged. Particular thanks are extended to Irwin Katz for his
thoughtful overall review, which was extremely helpful in revising earlier drafts
of the manuscript. Finally, I wish to express my deepest appreciation to Karyl
Robbins for the preparation of the book. Her secretarial skills and patience are
both unsurpassed.
P.K.
Foreword
This volume forces a focus on changes in American racism, for so long the
country's most changeless phenomenon, and on the role of the social scientist in
measuring, assessing, and accelerating the pace of change. In effect, this
compilation helps us measure the tasks bequeathed us by the civil rights
movement of the 1960s.
Racism was the central issue of the sixties, as it should have been for decades
before. A social movement of genuine mass proportions attacked American
racism head-on and finally began to work profound changes in the nation's
attitudes, laws, and institutions. Even as it forged impressive legal and political
tools, the movement dared the generation of the seventies to convert them to
lasting advantage. This is a task that will surely exceed the limits of a decade as it
encompasses the fruit of centuries of oppression. But it is a task that must be
resolutely pursued if we are to ensure that the events of the sixties were more
than a show of style and passion and that the changes they wrought will be real
and enduring.
Many who were actors in the movement events of the last decade have
embraced the challenges their own efforts created. Some, of course, are dead and
martyred; others were personally devastated by the struggle itself. But thousands
have turned their talents to new and not unrelated objectives. Some have entered
politics and government to work for the enforcement of the laws they forged.
Maynard Jackson, the young black Mayor of Atlanta who is one of these, has
even called poHtics "the civil rights movement of the seventies." But many
others of my old movement colleagues-people Uke Vernon Jordon, Fannie Lou
Hamer, Floyd McKissick, and John Lewis-have taken the movement to its next
logical step, scattering themselves to places where they can do some good and
even wield some of the power they helped create through struggle.
What is clear to us all is that the issues of the seventies are far more defined,
and in their own way more difficult, than those of the sixties. The goal is no
longer the broad "Freedom Now," but the complicated and demanding effort
for affirmative action in employment and housing, for a guaranteed annual wage.
xiü
xiv Foreword
for an equal share of educational allocations, and the like.
The danger always is that the recalcitrance of American racism will make too
many weary and will tempt the country to give up. Like those who rightly
"don't want to study war no more," many would prefer to leave the progress
and problems in eradicating America's oldest sickness unexamined. But we must
continue to study racism, as those who have contributed to this book have done.
For study, and the education that results, are among the best weapons we have
to fight racism. Those who have studied and acquired knowledge are the least
bigoted and most vigilant against the racial myths that have held the nation
back. These thoughtful chapters represent the kinds of efforts that are indispens
able to durable and steady progress. Let us continue to study, to learn, and to
fight.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Esq.
Commissioner
New York City Commission on Human Rights
1
Racism and Social Science: Towards
a New Commitment
PHYLLIS A. KATZ
Racism—the unequal treatment of individuals because of their membership in
a particular group-appears to be alive, well, and thriving in the United States.
As Martin Luther King so aptly stated in 1968, white America is "poisoned to
its soul by racism." Evidence that we are indeed a racist society, as noted in
the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), is
continuous. Scarcely a day goes by without new documentation. The dyna
miting of school buses to be used in a new integration program; the shooting
of a black off-duty policeman who is mistaken for the thief; the involuntary
sterilization of young, black, teenage girls; the use of a black, untreated
"control" group in a longitudinal study of syphilis-such reminders are, sadly,
too familiar.
Discussions about racism, however, tend to be analogous to discussions
about sin. There is general agreement that it is bad. Its existence is loudly
decried, often with great piety and occasional protestations of guilt, but more
frequently it is perceived as a problem associated with other people. Moreover,
like sin, racism has been with us for a long time.
Long before civil rights commissions and today's continuous media
commentary, astute observers of the American scene noted the paradox of our
expressed egalitarian ideals on the one hand, and our racist practices on the
other. The victims of the discrimination have, of course, for centuries been
continually conscious of the schism between the words and the behavior of
the white community, and have repeatedly stated their case with eloquence
and passion. Until recently, however, whites have preferred not to listen.
Although many were probably shocked to hear H. Rap Brown describe racism
as "American as apple pie," even the most cursory venture into our history
supports his statement. The inequality of the races was woven right into the
original fabric of our society and clearly reflected a cultural heritage of long
standing (Knowles and Prewitt, 1969). Moreover, as the last chapter of this
book documents, political and legal rights for racial minorities were extremely
long in coming, and grudgingly given only when great pressure was applied.
Our very Constitution, a document we are taught to revere in school, recog
nized slavery in many of its provisions.
