THE ILLITERATE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY: SOME GENERAL HYPOTHESES.

SOCIAL systems; ILLITERATE persons; ETHNOLOGY; SOCIAL status; RACE relations

This article characterizes, in a preliminary fashion, salient aspects of three problem areas: first the conditions under which the illiterate interacts in the larger social system; second, aspects of the larger system's integration and accommodation of the illiterate; and third, the extent to which the characteristic of illiteracy delineates a group in a subsystem. Illustrative examples from interviews and observations are employed in the analysis of the illiterates in American society. With respect to the first two areas, researchable hypotheses are set forth. The conclusions relate the concept of illiteracy to some aspects of the problem of race relations. The first is occasioned by the fact that illiteracy coupled with other identifiable inferior statuses makes upward mobility almost impossible. Thus, for example, the Afro-American illiterate is subject to employment discriminations both because of color and because of the inability to perform complex tasks. In a somewhat similar manner, the coupling of illiteracy with another inferior status may very likely bring conflicts with illiterates who do not possess this other inferior status.