550 A merican A nlhrapologisl 161, 19591

in the field of psychology, either in its academic or its clinical forms. But the dictionary
is not too trustworthy if it is used by the reader of psychoanalytical works. In this field
there are errors. For instance, Freudian psychoanalysis is defined without reference to
resistance or defenses. The ego in psychoanalytic usage is defined as conscious. This is
a t variance with accepted psychoanalytic usage, which lays great stress upon, and has
considerable knowledge about, the unconscious aspects of the ego. Defense mechanisms
are not stated to be unconscious, and some of the more important ones are not listed.
It is to be hoped that if there is a second edition, the psychoanalytical terms, of whose
faulty definition I have given only a few examples, will be thoroughly revised.

Social Class in American Sociology. MILTONM. GORDON. Durham, North Carolina:

Duke University Press, 1958. xiii, 281 pp. $6.00.
TREMEILAY,
Reviewed by M.-AD~LARD Universild L a d , Quebec
In the last thirty years, the field of social stratification has been growing rapidly,
both conceptually and operationally, under the influence of a large number of theoreti-
cal and empirical studies. Before significant advance can be made, we needed an overall
systematic assessment of the major contributions to class theory that would point out
the main conceptual, operational and methodological convergence and divergence
found in these various studies. This is the objective pursued rather successfully by Pro-
fessor Gordon in his book. Inspired by Weber’s approach, the author developed a multi-
dimensional model for class analysis, which he applies systematically to the work of
the Chicago Ecological school, Sorokin, the Lynds, Warner and associates, and of
others who made community studies such as D d a r d , Powdermaker, West, Hollings-
head, Mills, Goldschmidt, and others. Then the author reviews and critically evaluates
the main problem areas in class theory and research, such as functionalism, the nature
of the status order, class consciousness and the relation of class to mass society. He
finally assesses the logic of stratification scales and concludes the book by presenting,
in ezlenso, his model for class analysis. Gordon stresses the need for distinguishing be-
tween the stratification variables (those which reflect hierarchical arrangements) of
economic power, social status and political power, which, in his estimation, have to be
viewed as separate entities within the social class theory and the associated variables
(those that “contribute to the dynamics of stratification”) of group l i e and cultural
attributes. He defines these various concepts operationally, by pointing to their various
dimensions, choosing their appropriate indicators and stresses the importance of inter-
relating structurally and functionally the three stratification variables among them-
selves and with the two associated ones.

Racial and Cdlural Minmilies: An Analysis of Prejudice and Discrimination. GEORGE

E. SIMPSON and J. MILTONYINGER.(Revised Edition.) (Harper’s Social Science
Series.) New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1958. xi, 881 pp., appendices.
$7.50.
Reviewed by INA
C . BROWN,Scarritt College
This volume, a revision of a 1953 edition, deals with the problems of prejudice and
discrimination in three major sections. Part one consists of ten chapters on the causes
and consequences of prejudice and discriminatio;. In part two, eleven chapters are
given to institutional patterns of intergroup relations. A third section consists of two
brief chapters on prejudice, discrimination and democratic values.
Although the major portion of the book relates primarily to prejudice and dis-
 Book Reviews 55 1
crimination against American Negroes and American Jews, there are references to
other American minority groups and, to a lesser extent, to minorities in Europe, Asia
and Africa. The whole is set within a theoretical framework.
I n their Preface to the first edition the authors state as a guiding principle that
“Valid analysis of prejudice and discrimination must rest squarely on broader principles
.
of human behavior . . . Every proposition concerning intergroup relations should be
harmonized with, in fact a part of, the general principles being developed in social
science.” I n their revision, attention has been given to recent theoretical developments
as well as to changes in majority-minority affairs. Recent studies in the nature and
causes of prejudice have been considered and the events and problems growing out of
the Supreme Court decisions on segregation are taken into account. About half the
chapters have been extensively revised and the bibliography brought up to date.
As in almost every work of this size and scope the chapters are of unequal value. To
this reviewer, the least satisfactory treatment is the chapter on “Three Approaches to
Race: the Mystical, the Administrative and the Biological.” The authors seem less a t
home in the anthropological than in the sociological field and in the section on biological
viewpoints there is a heavy reliance on books that are now out-dated. In most other
sections full account is taken of recent studies.
While major consideration is given to what is usually called race relations, the
authors recognize that race as such throws little light on prejudice and discrimination.
They see race as one of the various symbols by which groups are designated and set
apart for differential treatment.
The book is useful both as a general reference and for courses in which a text is
desired that sets the problem of minority groups within a broad theoretical framework.

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