Preface

In this issue we are fortunate in having a first report on one of the major action research projects of the Commission on Community Inter- relations. In the community self-survey technique, CCI is not offering to community leaders an easy formula for solving their problems of dis- crimination. They are in effect saying: “If you can involve a large number of people in planning and carrying out a careful diagnosis of your commu- ity, you can get valid information about discriminatory practices in your town, this information will have a good chance of being accepted as valid by the townspeople, and the survey committee will constitute a sizable working group of persons concerned about these practices and interested in combating them.”

The efficacy of a community self-survey in stimulating programs for improving intergroup relations has not yet been rigorously tested. How- ever, the staff of CCI and others who have worked with the technique are convinced of its value and feel that it should be brought to the attention of community leaders a t once. In undertaking this task, the Journal of Social Issues is carrying out its primary function of making available to action people with the least delay the insights and techniques of social scientists.

This issue, then, is primarily a description of a tool. It is no t an instruc- tion manual on “How To Do a Community Self-Survey.” However, the presentation goes far beyond the purely descriptive level and deals mainly with the problems involved in the self-survey technique. Woven throughout the articles is the easily understood theoretical background of the technique which should be of interest both to anyone contemplating its use and to social scientists generally.

HAROLD KELLEY Acting General Editor

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