Discrimination against Negroes

Abstract

The functions of indicators to measure fullness of participation of minorities in American society can best be understood by relating them to strategic junctures in the socioeconomic life cycle. Data for Negroes, in particular, reveal the operation of two types of handicaps—those common to all members of the society subject to disadvantages of back ground or misfortune, and those specific to minority status. To distinguish between them, and thus to measure progress in reducing discrimination, requires not only comprehensive time series but also methods and models suited to the analysis of causal sequences. Despite the growing fund of valuable indi cators of the status of "nonwhite" Americans, a number of statistical hazards must be circumvented before reliable infer ences and realistic recommendations become possible. In reaching interpretations in this field, social science should operate as a "third force," complementing the work of policy- makers and program-administrators, on the one hand, and civic action groups on the other. Present knowledge is inadequate to the task of formulating specific proposals for redirecting trends. It could rapidly become more nearly adequate with the availability of sufficient resources for research, full co- operation of official statistical agencies, freedom to investigate so-called sensitive problems, and concerted attempts to im prove analytical and interpretive models. For the moment, we can only be sure that formidable obstacles remain in the way of achieving freedom from discrimination.