ANTH 23 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Root Mean Square, White Privilege, Regents Of The University Of California
Anth Feb 26 Monday
Week 8
ANTH 23
Affirmative Action"
How did affirmative action emerge?
•Affirmative action is unpopular and benefits only a disadvantaged minority. "
•So why would rich, white elites enact it? "
•It became beneficial for male elites in government because of the crisis created by riots in the
‘60s, “administrative difficulties of federal civil rights agencies, the Nixon administration’s
rather precarious political support, and the general reliance on appeals to tradition in the
American political system” (270) "
-Nixon supported it for political reasons. This was after the civil rights movement had
passed and there was a lot of opposition from people and they needed to drum up support
from minorities and disillusioned left wingers. The Republicans generally relied on
traditions.
What is affirmative action?
•“any government policy that gives a positive meaning to some non-class noneconomic group
difference”"
•Critics refer to “quotas or preferences intended to ensure a certain, predetermined proportion
of minority group representation”"
•Supporters describe “goals that firms, universities or the government use to ensure equal
opportunity” (270)"
•Specific quotas are never enforced, but it is not only concerned with equal opportunity "
-Not based just on helping impoverished people but to give a positive meaning to things
given a negative meaning in the past.
-Critics see it differently, they see it as quotas are reserved for specific groups. But this was
refuted by the Supreme Court many times. These are generally goals and no penalty, the
specific quotas have never been enforced but the idea that you’re trying to change the
demographic may be difficult to understand as if it goes to one it’s excluding others.
To be colorblind or color conscious?
•1964 Civil Rights Act assumes fairness as the norm and establishes the EEOC to address
individual acts of discrimination (colorblind)"
•Affirmative action makes employers and universities recognize differences and exerts
pressure on them to favor nonwhites (color-conscious) (270) "
-Many felt this was not doing enough, affirmative action takes a color conscious approach.
-To make an effort to diversify, you have to be conscious of the demographics that make up
your institution.
Banning Discrimination
•1961: The term first appears in JFK’s executive order, to "take affirmative action to ensure
that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard
to their race, creed, color, or national origin.""
•1964 Civil Rights Act outlaws discrimination based on race, religion, sex or national origin,
and creating the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce it • "
•late ‘60s EEOC begins holding public hearings to shame firms with low percentages of
women and minorities "
•1972-EEOC gains power to sue employers, using statistics and individual complaints as
evidence of discrimination."
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Anth Feb 26 Monday
Week 8
-JFK’s not saying take affirmative action to ensure your workforce represents the population
but to be more inclusive.
-Late 60s, there was no legal standing to sue if not diverse, so all it could do was call
congressional hearings and call CEOs to ask about it, more to make them look bad.
-In 70s, you can sue them, before this only people who were not employed or fired and
believed it was due to race, but usually weren’t economically able to.
Moving towards affirmative action:
•1965 LBJ executive order requires “affirmative action” to ensure nondiscrimination, creating
OFCC (Office of Federal Contract Compliance) "
•Late 1960s universities voluntarily begin affirmative action in admissions and hiring "
•1969 Philadelphia Plan requires federal contractors to attempt to hire percentages of Black
workers, and requires goals and timetables in 1970 "
•Still no enforceable quotas, just nonspecific goals "
-The idea is you can pressure private companies to do it but you cant control what they do.
-Federal contracting allowed people to get contracts based on how many non white
workers they have/plan to hire soon.
-Many universities began considering race and ethics as classes.
A social movement?
•Black leaders in the ‘60s wanted federal funding for better schools and job training "
•Martin Luther King generally spoke in colorblind terms but affirmative action is very color
conscious. "
•In 1964 racial preferences were unspeakable, but Nixon supported them in 1969 "
-Many people associated it with the civil rights movement as it came up around the same
time but it was never something the CRM advocated for."
-Rather they wanted more schooling but because it was expensive for the federal
government, it was cheaper to pressure private companies and contractors to employ
more colored people. "
-Around the time the CRM started, the idea of preference of colored people over white
people was unimaginable but then affirmative action (which essentially does that)
happened so it drew a lot of criticism. "
•Why the change? Who changed their minds and why? "
•Would Martin Luther King support affirmative action? "
•A. Yes • B. No • C. In the ‘60s, but not today "
Contextual factors:
•Institutional theory: “actors in organizations do not consciously think through everything
they do; they often follow various taken-for-granted, cultural rules of legitimacy or
appropriateness” (274) "
•LBJ could not militarily suppress rioters, so he sought to buy off/empower black community "
•EEOC and OFCC turn to color conscious methods as pragmatic means of making wholesale
rather than individual impact (276)"
- Richard Nixon wanted to maintain power and to get reelected so he’s supporting
something very ideological. "
-There were lots of riots and anti war movements, so what to do about these protestors?
You could fight them back with military force which looks really bad as the US is
supposed to be in support of freedom and democracy, so instead they added this
program to each out to the people in the CRM in a very pragmatic way. "
-Making it a national policy produces a more wholesale impact. "
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
60s, administrative di culties of federal civil rights agencies, the nixon administration"s rather precarious political support, and the general reliance on appeals to tradition in the. This was after the civil rights movement had passed and there was a lot of opposition from people and they needed to drum up support from minorities and disillusioned left wingers. Not based just on helping impoverished people but to give a positive meaning to things given a negative meaning in the past. Critics see it di erently, they see it as quotas are reserved for speci c groups. But this was refuted by the supreme court many times. These are generally goals and no penalty, the speci c quotas have never been enforced but the idea that you"re trying to change the demographic may be di cult to understand as if it goes to one it"s excluding others. Many felt this was not doing enough, a rmative action takes a color conscious approach.
