Authors: Paul Ong
Date: July 1, 1999
Project: Impacts of Affirmative Action: Policies and Consequences in California
Most Americans support the elimination of race and gender prejudice and inequality, yet attitudes toward solutions have fluctuated in the years since the civil rights movement. A heated debate over the explicit use of race and gender based categories has taken central stage in the 1990’s.
All eyes are now focused on California – a state that has set precedent for anti-discrimination initiative since its first policies in 1934 preceded federal policies by almost a decade. The contributors to this volume came together with the belief that today’s highly emotional and rhetorical debate over affirmative action would be better informed if it were grounded in analysis of the strategies and outcomes of California’s programs over the last quarter century.
Chapters explore such arenas as higher education, federal and state contracting, public employment, and minority – and women- owned businesses. The cumulative analysis in the book is then used to explore the current and future impacts of Proposition 209 and other legislation that eliminates affirmative action programs.