The Marginal Man: A Study in Personality and Culture Conflict

248 Pages·1961·11.095 MB·English

by  Everett V . Stonequist

THE MARGINAL MAN

The Marginal Man
A STUDY IN PERSONALITY
AND CULTURE CONFLICT
By
Everett V. Stonequist
Professor of Sociology
Skidmore College
NEW TORK
RU SSELL & RU SSELL • INC
1961
1937,
Copyright, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Printed in the United States of America
AU rights reserved. No port of tk^s book
may be reproduced in any form without
the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons
PUBLISHED 1961 BY RUSSELL & RUSSELL, INC.
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
L. C. CATALOG CARD NO : 61-13767
TO
ROBERT E. PARK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following authors and publishers
for permission to use selections from their copyrighted publications : Carne­
gie Corporation for selections from Old World Traits Transplanted by R. E.
Park and H. A. Miller, and for a selection from The Immigrant Press and
Its Control by R. E. Park; Coward-McCann for a selection from Under­
standing India by G. M. Williams ; Doubleday, Doran & Co., for selections
from What the Negro Thinks by R. R. Moton, for a selection from Up From
Slavery by Booker T. Washington, and for a selection from Following the
Color Line by Ray Stannard Baker ; E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., for a selection
from New Masters of the Baltic by Arthur Ruhl ; Harcourt, Brace & Co.,
Inc., for selections from I, The Jew by M. Samuel, and for selections from
A History of Nationalism in the East by Hans Kohn; Harper & Brothers
for a selection from Africa View by J. Huxley, and for a selection from
An American in the Making by M. E. Ravage; J. B. Lippincott Company for
a selection from Criminology by E. H. Sutherland; Little, Brown & Co. for
a selection from An American Saga by C. J. Jensen; Liveright Publishing
Corporation for selections from Up Stream by Ludwig Lewisohn; The Mac­
millan Company for selections from My Mother and I by E. G. Stern, and
for a selection from That Man Heine by Lewis Browne; A. C. McClurg &
Co. and the author for selections from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B.
DuBois ; Oxford University Press for a selection from A Study of History
by A. J. Toynbee; Simon & Schuster for a selection from Transition by Will
Durant; Silvio Villa for a selection from his The Unbidden Guest; The
Viking Press for a selection from Awakening Japan by Erwin Baelz; Yale
University Press for a selection from Theory of History by F. J. Teggart.
Preface
My interest in this subject began with a lecture given by
Lord Lugard at the Geneva School of International Studies in
1925 describing the effects of European ideas and practices
upon native life in Africa. His comments upon detribalized,
Europeanized Africans seemed to me to have some close paral­
lels with the problem of personal denationalization in Europe,
a subject previously brought to my attention by the stimulating
teachings of Sir Alfred Zimmern of Oxford University. I
found the French term, déraciné, a convenient label to use in
this connection.
In 1928 I met Professor Robert E. Park of the University
of Chicago and learned of his concept of the “marginal man,”
a conception which enlarged my understanding of this general
problem and placed it more definitely in what may be called a
sociological frame of reference. With Professor Park's encour­
agement and counsel, and the useful suggestions of other mem­
bers of the University of Chicago Department of Sociology, I
undertook to analyze further the validity of this hypothesis,
presenting the preliminary results of the study in 1930. Since
then I have pursued the subject by travel in Europe, in Hawaii,
and in the Caribbean. In so doing I have accumulated other
debts.
I am grateful to Presidents Henry T. Moore of Skidmore
College and David L. Crawford of the University of Hawaii
for arranging a year's exchange professorship at the latter uni­
versity during 1934—35. While in Hawaii I was aided by
Professors Romanzo Adams, Andrew W. Lind, and Edgar T.
Thompson, and by Miss Margaret Lam. In Jamaica I found
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Chapman, Manager and Editor, respec­
tively, of The West Indian Review, both hospitable and helpful
in directing me to sources of information. Mr. Lewis Mum-
ford of New York City, Professor Robert C. Angell of the
University of Michigan, Professor L. Lévy-Bruhl of the Uni­
versity of Paris, as well as several of the friends mentioned
above, have kindly read and commented upon this study in
manuscript form. Lastly, the many persons—friends, acquaint­
ances and strangers—who as “marginal men” have contributed
to my understanding of this subject deserve the fullest measure
of my thanks. everett v. stonequist.
Contents
PAGE
INTRODUCTION Robert E. Park xiii
I. THE MARGINAL MAN i
Introduction
Varieties of Culture Conflict
IL THE RACIAL HYBRID io
The Eurasians (Anglo-Indians) of India
The Cape Coloured of South Africa
The Mulattoes of the United States
The Coloured People of Jamaica
The Indo-Europeans of Java
The Part Hawaiians
The Métis of Brazil
Concluding Summary and Analysis
III. THE CULTURAL HYBRID 54
The Diffusion of European Culture
Europeanized Africans
Westernized Orientals : India
Denationalized Europeans
The Jews
PAGE
IV. THE CULTURAL HYBRID (Continued) 83
The Immigrant
The Second Generation
The American Negro
V. THE LIFE-CYCLE OF THE MARGINAL
MAN 120
Introduction
The Typical Life-Cycle
The Situation and the Life-Cycle
VI. PERSONALITY TRAITS 139
Introduction
The Crisis Experience
Typical Personality Traits
The Influence of the Situation
VII. THE NATIONALIST RÔLE 159
The Problem of Adjustment
The Nationalist Rôle
Among Westernized Peoples : India
Among National Minorities : Central Europe
Among Racial Minorities : the United States
VIII. THE INTERMEDIARY RÔLE 175
IX. ASSIMILATION AND PASSING 184
The Function of “Racial Marks”
Passing Among American Negroes
The Mental Conflicts of Passing
Religious Baptism and Assimilation