Citation

Reinhardt JM. Am. J. Sociol. 1927; 33(2): 248-261.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1927, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/214384

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Historically, peoples who have been able for a time to dominate others have regarded themselves as natural superiors. The fact that different peoples at different times and under somewhat changed circumstances have occupied places of dominance tends to invalidate these claims. The white race holds a favorable position in the world today as compared to the Negro. The Negro also appears to be biologically inferior. He is black, his nose is broad and low, his hair is kinky, his achievements do not loom high, and he seems generally lazy, short-sighted, and shiftless. An examination of the findings, however, in the fields in which actual biological differences in capacity might be expected to be found forces the conclusions that sweeping claims to white superiority are not justified on the basis of present knowledge, and that any reliable statement of actual differences in capacity between these two races will have to be based on discoveries yet to be made.