Research on the Urban Negro

Since the Negro's position is an essential part of the social structure in the South, a structural approach is generally sufficient for studying Negro-white relations. In the North, however, the social structure does not depend on keeping the Negro (or other "aliens") in a given place; and the status of minority groups has been marked by rapid changes. The nature of urban life and the differences in the sentiments of northerners as against southerners are examined as explanation of these changes. It is found that fixed status rather than free competition tends to govern the Negro's position in social relations based on primary contacts, while competition is allowed in other spheres. The interaction of social distance and free competition thus determines his positionin the social structure at any given moment. By devising indices of fixed status and free competition, Negro-white relations in various societies may be directly compared

Sociology · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society