Race and Representation: Affirmative Action

An exploration of one of the most debated--and divisive--issues in American society today.

Why has affirmative action become the lightning rod for conflicts over racial inequality in the United States? Have color-blind legal and political doctrines intensified or ameliorated America's racial divisions? Race and Representation invites the reader to enter a debate on a matter of the greatest moment for American universities, politics, and public life. Focusing on the politically driven decision of California's governor and the Board of Regents of the University of California to end affirmative 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 incisively assess the current state of the tumultuous controversy over affirmative action.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0942299493
• ISBN13: 9780942299496
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Zone Books
• Length: 428 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great collection

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.