Race and Representation : Affirmative Action [Hardcover]

Robert Post (Editor), Michael Rogin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 18, 1998

Why has affirmative action become the lightning rod for conflicts over racial inequality in the United States? Have colour-blind legal and political doctrines intensified or ameliorated America's racial divisions? This text focuses on the politically driven decision of California's governor and the Board of Regents of the University of California to end affirmitive action at the university, the subsequent enactment of an amendment to the California Constitution prohibiting the state from engaging in affirmative action, and court decisions in Texas that used the federal Constitution to prohibit affirmative action at state universities, the contributors to this volume assess the late-1990s state of controversey over affirmative action.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this expansion of a special issue of the Berkeley-based journal Representations, editors Post and Rogin (law and political science at Berkeley, respectively) chronicle the assault on race-based affirmative action that began with the July 1995 decision of the Board of Regents of the University of California to prohibit the use of race as a criterion for student admissions. By canvassing nearly 30 leading scholars and intellectuals nationwide, the editors have amassed a collection of essays that both document and humanize that decision and others regarding affirmative action. Two important themes emerge: that affirmative action was focused on creating a fully integrated society by applying remedial measures aimed at offsetting the underrepresentation of women and minorities in universities and other positions of power and that diversity was not an end in itself but simply a means for granting equal opportunity to every American citizen. The result is heavy reading, intended for a scholarly audience.?Philip Young Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Lib., New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Robert Post is the Alexander F. and Mary T. Morrison Professor of Law at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. Michael Rogin is the Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Zone Books (July 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942299485
• ISBN-13: 978-0942299489
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,551,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great collection, June 3, 2000

By 

Jonathan Markovitz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Race and Representation: Affirmative Action (Paperback)

This is an excellent collection on affirmative action. Rather than merely rehash old debates, the editors have assembled a collection that sheds important light upon the ways in which affirmative action has been understood and represented throughout the mass media and popular culture. The contributors agree that the kinds of reactions that are prompted by affirmative action need to be understood within a broader context of contemporary racial relations in the United States, and with the understanding that representations of racial matters have always been highly charged, contested, and problematic in the mass media.