Hartford chronicle., 1946-10-05

MAGAZINE RACK By Samuel P. Perry, Jr.
 MAGAZINE FICTION
 Bernard Berelson and Patri- cia J. Salter (Public Opinion Quarterly
 As the authors put it, this is. a study of the. prejudices which find their way into innocuous areas "where people are exposed to them without consciousness that an eth nic problem is being raised at all." In short, the treatment of majority and minority groups in the popular fiction appearing in mass maga- zines is examined with some very interesting results. The object of the analysis was a sample of 198 short stories published in eight of the country's most widely read magazines in, 1887 and 1943. The results of the analysis is presented in five main sections: CD the distribution of the characters; (2) their roles; (3) their appear ance; (4) their status; (5) their goals.
 "We start with a fundamental conclusion: in popular magazine short stories laid in the United States, minority and foreign groups are seldom represented. The American minorities appeared much less frequently in magazine
 fiction than in the population. Overwhelming attention was given to the Americans The stage and the spotlight belonged to them." The following statistics were introduced:
 Distribution in the Population Jews .............".....-........- 3.o NegroeS ................................. S.S Other Descent ......................... 17.6 Anglo-Saxon ................................ S.8
 and Nordic Descent
 The Americans ....................... 6O.2 Distribution of Story Characters Jews ............-.............. 1.2 Other Descent .......................... 2.8 Anglo .............................. 3.3
 and Nordic descent
 Americans ........................ 9O.S
 In detail, the authors discuss the stereotypes: the amusingly ignorant Negro, the Italian gang ster, the sly and shrewd Jew, the emotional Irish, the primitive and backword Pole, the patronized ma tive of Pacific Island. Not over looked is the fact the occupation of the ninorities is usually one of the lowest type, presented in an un- favorable light. "The Negroes and Jews never appeared as heroes and heroines. No Negroes or Jews were depicted as members of the armed forces. They had the lowest occupational rating. They constituted the only group with more disapproved than approved traits. In short, of all distin- guishable groups of characters in magazine fiction, the Negroes and Jews were depicted least favor ably"
 With good reason, the authors point out that it is "convenient" to write "a story with stock, stereo- typed, characters. Such a story can hardly be construed as "con- troversial. It makes good selling material for the publishers obsesse with the thought of wide circula- tion. Their objective is to provide certain degree of relaxation for their readers, not to change pre- conceived ideas, irrationally formed. Readers with latent tendencies to assign the usual stereotype descriptions to groups personal contact, can find support whom they do not know, or toward whom they are unsympathetic, or with whom they do not come in for their convenient tags, labels, and aggressions in such magazine fiction...... Thus the condition and behavior of fictional characters can readily be used to prove that the Negroes are lazy, or igno- rant, the Jew sly, the Irish super stitious, the Italian criminal, and so on."
 It is concluded: "The readers of short stories in popular magazines are constantly exposed, implicitly, to the prejudices and stereotypes attached to minority problems in the United States. But they are never exposed to serious and direct presentation of the problems them