Affirmative Action
I know I said I would say nothing more on this subject but I have been reading a bit on the subject and so I am somewhat confused about an arguments critics of affirmative action make. Basically one argument is that by the 1970s black people, whether measured by economic or social factors, had stopped making progress, and this was in large part because of the way in which affirmative action reduces their incentives to do well, makes them feel like permanent victims and so on.Now let us accept these premises (though even if true are they not true for poor whites too?), there seems to me to be a rather large problem with the argument. Despite what you would believe if you read right-wing blogs here was hardly any affirmative action in the UK in the 1960s, 1970s and even 1980s.
The earliest race legislation was the 1968 Race Relations Act, which outlawed intentional discrimination in employment, housing and the provision of goods and services. This was largely toothless, but in any case seems unlikely to have brought about black incapacity and victimhood. Then came the 1976 Race Relations Act, which covered direct and indirect discrimination in the private sector, and employment practices in the public sector. This law establised the CRE, replacing two statutory bodies establied in 1965 and 1968. The law permitted, but did not require a limited degree of 'positive action', under which current employees from a particular racial group could be trained to fill positions in which their racial group is underepresented. However recruiting for that purpose was forbidden.
This rather tepid measure in practice had a very limited effect in very limited areas and seems highly unlikely to have had the impact on black schoolchildren some believe. You then have to wait until 2000, in the Race Relations Amendement Act before you get more effective positive discrimination measures (this was largely in response to a report commissioned into the murder of Stephen Lawrence) and directed at large organisations, notably the Metropolitan Police. However even under affirmative action US-style remains illegal.
Thus unless we really believe the liimited statutory and (in practice terms non-existent) measure in the 1968 and 1976 acts had an impact on black youths completely out of proportion to their actual impact affirmative action cannot be an explanation for anything concerning them that happens 2002, and even then the full effect won't be seen until about 2013.
posted by Matthew @ 10/21/2003 10:20:00 AM
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