Protesting affirmative action : the struggle over equality after the civil rights revolution / Dennis Deslippe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deslippe, Dennis.

Series:

Reconfiguring American political history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Affirmative action programs--United States--History.

Affirmative action programs.

Equality--United States--History.

Equality.

Race discrimination--United States--History.

Race discrimination.

History.

United States.

United States--Race relations--History.

Race relations.

Affirmative action programs--Law and legislation--United States.

Affirmative action programs--Law and legislation.

Physical Description:

xii, 282 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.

Summary:

Although many tend to think of opposition to affirmative action programs as beginning in 1978 with the US Supreme Court case Regents of the U. of California v. Bakke, Deslippe (American studies, Franklin & Marshall College) describes a longer and more varied history of opposition in the 15 years before Bakke, arguing that the challenges to affirmative action came from three sources--"labor unionism, colorblind liberalism, and colorblind conservatism"--with the unionists and the liberals initially leading the opposition. He examines the separate rationales and strategies towards affirmative action among these groups and presents two case studies illustrating how liberals and unionists engaged with the issue: the 1974 Supreme Court case DeFunis v. Odegaard, an early "reverse discrimination" case against the U. of Washington, and "reverse discrimination" protests in the Detroit Police Department unions. He further argues that conservatives later came to the fore on the issue largely because the labor and liberal opponents of affirmative action failed to gain a foothold within the Democratic Party. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

"The best affirmative action program is creating jobs for everyone" : organized labor responds to affirmative action, 1960-74

"This strange madness" : the origins of opposition to higher education : affirmative action, 1968-72

"The issue is getting hotter" : the struggle over higher education

Affirmative action policy in the early 1970s

"Treat him as a decent American!" : DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974) and

Color-blindness in the courtroom

"Do whites have rights?" : white Detroit policemen and "reverse discrimination" protests in the mid-late 1970s

"The fight for true non-discrimination" : politics and anti-affirmative action before Bakke

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781421403588

1421403587

OCLC:

727511704