Introduction
I took a course in racial prejudice and desegregation, titled Social Relations 134, in the spring of my junior year at Harvard, the semester between my arrest and my work in the South. Professor Thomas Pettigrew, a native southerner who would become a significant contributor to the dialogue on education and civil rights in the ensuing decades, introduced the class to readings on race relations and helped us analyze a survey of African American residents in a Boston housing project. For the final project, each student was asked to compose an attitude scale that would look at the correlation of a particular attitude with other variables in the survey. Responses were coded on punch cards, which were processed by a huge computer that took up an entire room in a Harvard lecture hall basement. My study looked at the relationship between "openness to new experiences" and other variables.
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OUTLINE OF SCHEDULE
I. Basic Sociological Variables age, income, occupation, education, sex, marital status, children, residence, mobility, etc.
II. Information and Participation in Organizations
A. Membership in organizations
B. Activities
C. Exposure to news media
III. Personality Variables
A. Militancy
B. Conformity
C. Authoritarianism
D. Anti-ingroup and Anti-outgroup feeling
E. Subjective Victimization
IV. Attitudes Toward Government
A. Concepts of government power and Knowledge of Govt Programs
B. Participation in Federal Progams
C. Assessment of Personal Influences over Govt
V. Socialization and World View
A. Childrearing Practices
B. Confidence in the Future and in Others
C.
VI. Social Change
A. Problems and Discontentments
B. Expectations
C. Aspirations
D. Outside Leadership and Community Participation, and Potential Leadership in the Community
E. Political Participation
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PERSONALITY VARIABLES
c It's better to go along with the crowd than to be a martyr.
f Any good leader must be tough with the people he leads so as to gain their respect
ars I crave excitement.
c When almost everyone agrees on something there is little reason to oppose it.
f People tned to put too much importance on respect for authority.
ars It's a wonderful feeling to sit surrounded by your possessions
c I like to fool around with new ideas, even if they turn out later to be a waste of time.
People can be divided into two classes- the weak and the strong.
ars Only the desire to achieve great things will bring a man's mind into full activity.
c Some of my best friends think my ideas are impractical, if not a bit wild.
f Sometimes it is better to discourage complete obedience to orders.
In most conversations I tend to bounce from topic to topic.
c There is no reason why close friends should have similar opinions about ht things.
f No sane, normal, or decent person could think of hurting a close friend or relative.
ars I really envy the person who can walk up to anybody and tell him off to his face.
c I prefer games in which one individual competes against another rather than team games.
f I seldom have any enthusiasm about respecting and obeying authority.
c Sometimes I rather enjoy going against the rules and doing things I'm not supposed to.
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f Obedience and respect for authority are absolutely the most important virtues children should learn.
ars Drop reminders of yourself wherever you go and your life's trail will be well remembered.
f It may well be that children who talk back to their parents actually end up later respecting them more.
ars I like nothing more than having breakfast in bed.
c It is best not to express your views when in the company of friends who disagree with you.
ars novelty has a great appeal to me.
c Before a person does something he should try to consider how his friends will react to it.
f People would do well to try to retain some of the rebelliousness of youth in their later years.
ars Little things upset me.
TESTING MILITANCY, ANTI*INGROUP, ANTI*OUTGROUP
m A man gets ahead better by keeping out of trouble rather than always demanding his rights.
sv I sometimes feel that prejudice in this country has hurt me personally
ao Like every other group, I believe that there are both good and bad whites in this country.
ai If all negroes behaved themselves properly, no negroes would run into prejudice.
m Negroes don't fight hard enough for their rights.
ao The trouble with most white people is that they think they are better than other people.
ai Too many negroes try to remain aloof and avoid activities within their own race.
m If negroes push too hard for equal rights they may lose the gains they've made so far
ao Most white people are not prejudiced and sincerely believe that negroes are equal.
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ai negro-americans bring on themselves much of the discrimination they face by not working hard enough in school and on the job.
sv Even if there were no racial prejudice and discrimination in America, I don't think my life would be any different.
m No oppressed group has ever gotten justice except by its own blood, sweat, and tears.
sv There have been times when I couldn't get something I wanted because of group discrimination.
ao It is simply not true that Jews are too rich and too powerful in this country.
ai It makes me mad to see how little pride many negroes take in their own group
m Before pushing for more rights, Negro americans need to work first for improving their own neighborhoods.
ao Young people should be allowed to marry whoever they want regardless of religion or race.
ai White people should make more of a distinction between respectable negroes who are like them and the poorly educated negroes who are a group all their own.
m In seeking to end racial discrimination, negro-americans need to stop talking so much and to start more economic boycotts and direct action.
ao It is risky to trust a white person.
ai I think too many negroes want to be white- rather than taking a prominent part in their own race's affairs.
ao Jews have never endured the sorts of discrimination that negroes have faced.
sv I really cannot say that prejudice and discrimination have ever seriously affected my life.
ao Many white people are only friendly to negroes when they want something out of them.
ao Negroes can expect no real help from most white people in this fight against racial discrimination.