Implications of Adlerian Theory for an Understanding of Civil Rights Problems and Action

Without question, the most significant and persistent influence on my own thoughts and activities as a social psychologist has been the social dynamic theories of Alfred Adler. I was introduced to the writings of Adler by Professor Francis Cecil Sumner (1895-1954) who initiated me into the field of psychology when I was an undergraduate at Howard University during the early 1930's. The late Professor Sumner was one of the wisest, most scholarly students of psychology I have ever known. He shared with Alfred Adler the fact of being woefully underestimated and unsung, while more flamboyant, fashionable or deliberately obscure or detached social and psychological theorists were being lionized by intellectual faddists and cults. He also shared with him the view that a relevant psychology must be concerned with the destiny and fulfillment of man and society, and the profound hope that man had the capacity to use his rational powers to develop a just and viable society.2 While I was still an undergraduate, Sumner's interpretation of psychodynamic theories-and particularly the clarity with which he presented and interpreted Adlerian theory-struck a response within me which caused me to decide to become a psychologist instead of a physician. In looking back on the basis of this decision of a college junior, the following factors seem salient: