No.^rir* ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — KUPFERER 309 



"Why the hell do White people love the niggers more than the Indians? 

 Why do they hate Indians?" I answered that I didn't think that 

 most White people ever gave Indians a thought. "Likely that's 

 true," he said, "except for the White folks around here. Hell, the 

 niggers been voting; I just got the vote in the forties." 



There is no doubt that personal conflict is present among members 

 of the Middle Class with regard to self-acceptance and identification. 

 Generalized Indians and Rural Whites also exhibit some conflict, but, 

 except for a few cases, they are less verbal, less troubled about it, or 

 have thus far repressed their anxieties. The presence of this attitude 

 among certain of the Cherokee should come as no surprise. There 

 are many and complex reasons for this attitude. Some people felt 

 stigmatized by attending Indian schools; others have reacted to the 

 attitudes of the surrounding Whites toward Indians. White Indians 

 as a whole, are faced with the problem of dual reference groups. 

 Conservative behavior, which they do not understand, both embar- 

 rasses and angers them. These reasons which are, of course, inter- 

 related, combine in diverse ways in individual lives to induce 

 uncertainty and to weaken self-esteem. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The data of this chapter have been organized around two pivotal 

 value systems which are essentially antipodal to each other. As the 

 values are in contradistinction to each other, so are the people who 

 espouse them. Conservatives live by the Harmony Ethic. The 

 aspects of the Harmony Ethic on which this study has focused dis- 

 close that these qualities are present among most of our Conservative 

 cases. There is some slight relinquishing of faith in nonempirical 

 beliefs, and three informants no longer rely exclusively on inter- 

 mediaries. A few have adopted the form of generosity which was 

 described as part of the Protestant Ethic, although they continue to 

 manifest the Conservative pattern of generosity, too. Six Conserva- 

 tive informants have begun to exhibit a very modified pattern of self- 

 reliance, which typifies the Protestant Ethic. However, these six are 

 not "go-getters," for they have not yet "exploited" their highway 

 business property. 



The Protestant Ethic has its closest adherents among members of 

 the Middle Class. Rural Whites and Generalized Indians vary in 

 the extent to which this ethic shapes their judgments and guides 

 their behavior. However, I submit that, on the basis of this research, 

 these people do not view themselves or others through the lens of the 

 Harmony Ethic but through that of the Protestant Ethic, even though 

 it may be "scaled down." ^® 



23 See, for example, Merton, 1957, pp. 136-139, 149-153; Faris, 1960, pp. 1-5. 



