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Affirmative Action Policies (affirmative + action_policy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences40%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting40%

Selected Abstracts

Transnational Advocacy Networks and Affirmative Action for Dalits in India

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2008
Jens Lerche
ABSTRACT In India, movements and parties representing the lowest ranking dalit caste groups have followed different strategies in their struggle against social, economic and cultural discrimination. In this article, a new dalit movement making use of a ,transnational advocacy network strategy' will be compared to a more ,classical'dalit political party. The main policy target for the new movement is an extension of existing affirmative action policies, while the dalit BSP party focuses more on emancipatory issues. Based on an analysis of the impacts of the BSP and of the new movement at the grassroots level, it is argued that the achievements of the new movement are tempered by the fact that in order to make use of international discourses and political pressure, the movement has had to develop a strategy and policy proposals compatible with existing mainstream neoliberal discourses. This depoliticizes the policies, and hence makes them of less importance strategically. It is argued that this is likely to be a difficulty for transnational advocacy networks in general. [source]

Affirmative Action: A German Perspective on the Promotion of Women's Rights with Regard to Employment

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 1 2006
Anke J. Stock
This paper discusses affirmative action policies in Germany. After German reunification, women from both east and west had hoped for a new codification of their rights, including positive obligations on the state to promote gender equality. However, the amendments to the Basic Law in November 1994 did not clearly endorse this approach. Opinions still differ as to whether Articles 3(2) and 3(3) of the Constitution allow for affirmative action with regard to women's employment. In 2001 quotas for the public employment sector were finally introduced, but the use of quotas for private sector employment still faces serious opposition. Nevertheless, the concept of affirmative action is not new to the German legal system: since the eighteenth century, quota schemes have been used to ensure the employment of (war-) disabled persons. This article examines the different approaches to employment quotas for women and disabled persons, and critically evaluates the reasons for divergence. [source]

Affirmative action, duality of error, and the consequences of mispredicting the academic performance of african american college applicants

JOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2002
Jeryl L. Mumpower
The implications of different potential affirmative action policies depend on three factors: selection rate from the applicant pool, base rate of qualified applicants, and accuracy of performance predictions. A series of analyses was conducted under various assumptions concerning affirmative action plans, causes of racial differences in average college admissions test scores, and racial differences in accuracy of performance predictions. Evidence suggesting a lower level of predictive accuracy for African Americans implies that, under a program of affirmative action, both proportionately more false positives (matriculated students who do not succeed) and proportionately more false negatives (rejected applicants who could have succeeded) will be found among African American applicants. Unless equivalent levels of predictive accuracy are achieved for both groups, no admission policy can be fair simultaneously to majority group applicants and African American applicants. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [source]

Searching for Common Ground between Supporters and Opponents of Affirmative Action

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2005
Christine Reyna
Supporters and opponents of affirmative action are often characterized as debating about a single, consensually understood type of affirmative action. However, supporters and opponents instead may have different types of policies in mind when thinking about affirmative action and may actually agree on specific manifestations of affirmative action policies more than is commonly believed. A survey conducted using a student sample and a sample from the broader Chicago-area community showed that affirmative action policies can be characterized into merit-violating versus merit-upholding manifestations. Supporters of affirmative action in general were more likely to think of affirmative action in its merit-upholding manifestations, whereas opponents were more likely to think of the merit-violating manifestations. However, both supporters and opponents showed more support for merit-upholding rather than merit-violating manifestations of affirmative action. The same pattern of results was upheld even when splitting the samples into those who endorsed negative racial attitudes versus those who did not, suggesting that even those who may be considered racist will endorse affirmative action policies that uphold merit values. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of clarifying the political discourse about what affirmative action is and what it is designed to do. [source]

The President and Representative Bureaucracy: Rhetoric and Reality

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2000
Katherine C. Naff
Policy makers have long recognized the importance of achieving a representative federal bureaucracy, but the four most recent presidents have expressed divergent views about policies designed to achieve this goal. Meanwhile, there have been widespread perceptions among federal employees that the administrations' ideologies have had a direct impact on the opportunities of minorities, women, and white men for advancement. Using government-wide data from 1979 to 1996, this article examines whether such employment opportunities have varied in the manner suggested by these perceptions. We find little evidence of a correlation between the president's views on affirmative action and minority and female representation in the overall federal workforce. Moreover, the curtailment of promotion opportunities during the Reagan and Clinton administrations has affected all groups nearly equally. Potential presidential influence has been more notable in the representation of women and minorities in politically appointed and career senior executive jobs. We conclude that equal employment opportunity and affirmative action policies have remained basically intact during the 18-year period, but that recent court decisions, along with efforts to reduce the size of government, may slow progress toward achieving a representative bureaucracy. [source]