The Remedy: Class, Race, And Affirmative Action [Paperback]

Richard D. Kahlenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 1997

In this provocative and paradigm-shifting book, Richard D. Kahlenberg argues that affirmative action programs ought to be based not on race but on class. America’s exclusive focus on race in determining how to allocate economic and educational opportunities has served only to undermine the moral legitimacy of affirmative action, the results clearly visible in the growing public sentiment to abolish such programs.Kahlenberg shows that it is time to return to affirmative action’s roots, so that it works to the benefit of the truly disadvantaged, regardless of race. In a sweeping and damning analysis, Kahlenberg examines how the rationale for affirmative action has moved inexorably away from its original commitment to remedy past discrimination and instead has become a means to achieve racial diversity, even if that means giving preference to upper-middle-class blacks over poor whites. He outlines how a class-based system of affirmative action would work, why all Americans should embrace it, and how the African-American community in particular would continue to reap the benefits it needs without engendering resentment among whites.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When affirmative action emerged in the 1960s, it was part of a larger quest to achieve real equal opportunity and integration throughout American society. According to Center for National Policy fellow Richard D. Kahlenberg, the original purpose of affirmative action changed during the 1970s, from "racial preferences as a temporary bridge to color-blindness" to "racial preferences as a permanent way of life." Kahlenberg is one of a growing number of observers who believe that affirmative action should be based on economic need rather than race. In this carefully argued book, he looks at the current state of affirmative action and explores the implications of his proposal for race and economic relations in the United States. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Arguably, this is the most thorough effort so far to support preferences based on class, rather than race or sex, when decisions are made in university admissions or entry-level hiring. In dry but lucid style (and in lengthy endnotes), Kahlenberg (Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School) engages most of the arguments in the affirmative action debate. He considers his remedy a principled response to affirmative action opponents who deny the value of diversity, and to proponents who "raise diversity to a value above justice." Current affirmative action, he argues, neither provides genuine equal opportunity-it helps the middle class more than the poor-nor contributes to long-run color blindness and social integration. He provides sober analysis of the mechanics of measuring class-based disadvantage and suggests it can be used to maintain a significant minority presence in universities. Kahlenberg's solution may discount the importance of affirmative action beyond entry-level hiring, as well as the role race-based affirmative action can play in combating racial stigma. But his book, hearkening back to the promise of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, reminds us that class-based coalitions may be the way to seek a more just America.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 046509824X
• ISBN-13: 978-0465098248
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's what King and Kennedy wanted..., May 5, 2001

By 

"michaeleve" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Remedy: Class, Race, And Affirmative Action (Paperback)

...and I suppose, for some, that automatically means that we should not want it now. Such persons may also be of the view that "all black folk need to do, is change their culture and get jobs". For the rest of us living in the real USA, it is patently clear that race, poverty, and government (specifically public policies dealing with these issues) will always be with us, whether we like it or not.

It is against this background, that THE REMEDY is offered. Its very name is offered as a portent of what is possible if we could dispense with the ideologues and polemicists. The book is actually quite moderate, thoughtful and most importantly - egalitarian. Some of the points that that the book develops on are:

(1) Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy never endorsed racial preferences; the arguments supporting affirmative action were always couched in terms of it being a compensatory program that would benefit the disadvantaged of all races.

(2) Only an affirmative action based on class will provide genuine individual equal opportunity; this for both poor blacks and poor whites.

(3) Mr Kahlenberg says that after King and Kennedy, a shift took place in the 1970's; from compensation to diversity - "from racial preferences as a temporary bridge to color-blindness, to racial preferences as a permanent way of life." Mr Kahlenberg is considerate of conservative sensibilities by not pointing out that it was under a Republican that affirmative action first bacame race based. John David Skretny in THE IRONIES OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, and others, have pointed out that it was used as part of a brilliant wedge strategy by Nixon to drive working class unionized white males, and southern whites, out of the Democratic Party and to the Republicans. It worked.

Mr Kahlenberg proposes a formula or method for calculating disadvantage. It is sufficiently encompassing, taking the following into consideration: parental income, occupation, education, net worth, family structure and neighborhood factors. There are many who would wish this whole affirmative action debate to go away. This book is not for them; they can relax and forget about the poor. Meantime, for more thoughtful persons it may be refreshing to know that, generally, as a nation, we still remain committed to our universalistic ideals. In an opinion poll done by PUBLIC AGENDA in 1998, over 87% of individuals polled said it was essential that there should be equal opportunity for people regardless of their race, religion or sex. Even on the supposedly contentious issue of affirmative action, a GALLUP POLL done in January, 2000 found that nearly 60% of us are still in favor of affirmative action.

2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A "progressive" book with conservative implications, October 15, 2003

By 

Matt (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Remedy: Class, Race, And Affirmative Action (Paperback)

In order to alievate tensions between working-class whites on one side and African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans on the other, Kahlenberg calls for replacing race-based programs with class-based programs. His assumption: it'll bring the white working class into a liberal coalition, and disproportionately help African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans because they're disproportionately poor. The problem is that 1.) Kahlenberg fails to understand the dynamics of race and class in America and 2.) Kahlenberg assumes that conservatives will support his ideas.

Regarding 1), Kahlenberg doesn't realize that people of color are concentrated among the poorest of the poor. He constantly pulls out the hackneyed argument that "it's unfair to give the preference to the kid of the black doctor over the kid of the white garbage collector" argument, as if these two constantly find themselves competing for admission to Berkeley or Yale - it's usually the white doctor's kid vs. the black doctor's kid. He fails to acknowledge that SAT scores for the children of black college graduates are lower than that of white high school graduates. He constantly praises people like Ward Connerly and bashes black leaders for criticizing black conservatives. Despite the fact that less than 20% of all high-scoring low-income SAT scorers are Black or Latino, he still assumes that beneficiaries of his plan will be at least 25% Black.

As for 2.), he assumes that people like Newt Gingrich and Clarence Thomas SUPPORT his ideas, since they mention the "unfairness" of affirmative action to the white working class. They have no such plan in the making.

In conclusion, no matter what your views are on AA, this book is too poorly thought-out to be of use for anyone.

4 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Biased in favor of affirmative action, December 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Remedy: Class, Race, And Affirmative Action (Paperback)

Inadequate fact and value analysis of the interests at stake. Author wants to substitute class quotas in place of racial quotas. Results would be the same: unfair, divisive, unworkable. An example of Justice Holmes' statement that, "It is one thing to think from a protected cloister; it is another to think for action upon which great interests depend". Author should climb down from his ivory tower and get a real job.