#myrdal

Since we can hardly accuse [Gunnar Myrdal] of being naive, and since he clearly goes out of his way to avoid the obvious implications of labor exploitation in the South, we cannot help concluding that the work in many respects may have the effect of a powerful piece of propaganda in favor of the status quo. If the 'race problem' in the United States is pre-eminently a moral question, it must naturally be resolved by moral means, and this conclusion is precisely the social illusion which the ruling political class has constantly sought to produce. In this connection we are conscious of the author's recognition that 'social science is essentially a 'political' science.' One thing is certain, at any rate: the work contributes virtually nothing to a clarification of the many existing spurious social theories of race relations--indeed on the latter score, Myrdal's contribution is decidedly negative. And for this reason evidently he has been able to suggest no solution for the dilemma, for, like the fatalists whom he criticizes, the author relies finally upon time as the great corrector of all evil.