The Pursuit of Division: Race, Gender, and Preferential Hiring in Canada [Paperback]

Martin Loney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

Loney takes issue with popular attitudes toward race and gender, whereby to be born a woman or a member of a visible minority is to enter life at a disadvantage and therefore be entitled to compensatory provision. Arguing that social class not group membership determines life chances, he refutes the claims of those who detect systemic prejudice and discrimination and reap considerable public subsidy in return. From the release of the Abella report to the present, Loney sets the growth of federal involvement in preferential hiring in the context of a growing industry whose success depends on the constant affirmation of group grievance based on gender or race. He argues that preferential hiring policies and a muddled multiculturalism leads to the continual assertion of the primacy of race even as the government officially opposes racial thinking. Loney discusses many up-to-date and high profile examples, including Bob Rae's preoccupation with skin and gender politics, Brian Mulroney's attempts to strengthen the Conservative Party's ethnic constituency by funding ethnic groups and maintaining high levels of immigration, and former defence minister David Colinette's extensive use of public funds to court ethnic voters in his Toronto constituency. The Pursuit of Division will be essential reading for anyone concerned about where government-mandated policies on equity and multiculturalism may be taking us and about the implications of emphasizing the politics of difference over that of shared community.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Pursuit of Division is a well-researched and well-argued challenge to prevailing orthodoxy on equity policies and identity politics in Canada. Loney does an extremely effective job of debunking the selective approach to data that characterizes too much of the discourse in favour of preferential treatment and brings a long-overdue comparative dimension to the discussion by situating the Canadian treatment of minorities within a global framework." Philip Resnick, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia

Product Details

• Paperback: 396 pages
• Publisher: Mcgill Queens Univ Pr (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773517693
• ISBN-13: 978-0773517691
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,728,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars debunks the twisted propaganda of equity activists, July 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pursuit of Division: Race, Gender, and Preferential Hiring in Canada (Paperback)

Martin Loney demolishes - rather convincingly - the rhetoric that underpins race and gender preferences in the Canadian workplace. He demonstrates that women and visible minorities, contrary to being victims of discriminatory employment practices, are at a conspicuous advantage when it comes to raises, promotions, and securing highly prized appointments. He also plots the astonishing growth of the feminist and multicultural "grievance industry" which comprises a vast network of feminist academics and group-think equity bureaucrats.

Contributing little to society other than advocacy propaganda and a drain on the public purse, equity advocates have used their alleged "victim" status to pad their bank accounts and carve out lucrative jobs in the public sector. Worse, this cartel of special-interest groups has assiduously mounted an intimidation campaign designed to muzzle anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy of affirmative action.

Loney's investigative prowess exposes the pressure tactics that equity zealots employ to invent ever-more absurd and anti-democratic legislation for the purpose of favoring designated groups over white males. He lays bare the biased research and "meretricious" use of statistics that equity advocates depend on to sway politicians into adopting preferential hiring policies. These policies simply add more layers to an already bloated bureaucracy. Embittered and self-interested preferential hiring activists have successfully duped an accommodating federal government by brandishing a misleading platform that operates under the pretense of catch-phrases like "social justice" "equity" and "progressive reform". And finally, Loney examines the intrinsically immoral practice of asserting the salience of race and gender at the expense of merit, fairness and intellectual honesty. This well-researched book is essential reading.