Uncle Tom syndrome

Illustration of Tom and Eva by Hammatt Billings for the 1853 deluxe edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Uncle Tom syndrome is a concept in psychology.^[1] It refers to a coping skill where individuals use passivity and submissiveness when confronted with a threat, leading to subservient behaviour and appeasement, while concealing their true thoughts and feelings. The term "Uncle Tom" comes from the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, where the African American slave Tom is beaten to death by a cruel white master for refusing to betray the whereabouts of two other slaves.

In the American racial context, "Uncle Tom" is a pejorative term for blacks that give up or hide their ethnic or gender outlooks, traits, and practices, in order to be accepted into the mainstream—a so-called race traitor. In African-American parlance this is also derogatorily known as an Oreo cookie: black on the outside, and white on the inside.^[2]

In race minority literature Uncle Tom syndrome refers to blacks that, as a necessary survival technique, opt to appear docile, non-assertive, and happy-go-lucky. Especially during slavery, blacks used passivity and servility for the avoidance of retaliation and for self-preservation.^[3] In contrast, the Aboriginal Australian Wurundjeri of Coranderrk are reported to have conformed to European ways while at the same time retaining group dignity and individual self-respect, avoiding the syndrome.^[4]

In a broader context, the term may refer to a minority's strategy of coping with oppression from socially, culturally or economically dominant groups involving suppression of aggressive feelings and even identification with the oppressor, leading to "forced assimilation/acculturation" of the cultural minority.^[5]

See also

• Uncle Tom
• House Negro
• Self-hating Jew
• Useful Jew
• Stockholm syndrome
• Race traitor
• Uncle Ruckus
• Colonial mentality

References