Understanding the Backlash Against Affirmative Action

by John Fobanjong

Affirmative action remains one of the most divisive issues in America, remaining unsolved since the 1960s civil rights legislation. Though many works have attempted to solve the dilemma, none have tried to identify the underlying causes of the backlash against the policy. In order to understand affirmative action's future, one must understand its evolution, its opposition, and its application both in America and in other nations. In a multi-disciplinary...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159033065X
• ISBN13: 9781590330654
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Nova Biomedical Books
• Length: 205 Pages

Customer Reviews

Best Book on Affirmative Action

Nothing has been as politically divisive in the United States since the civil rights movement as the policies of affirmative action. In his book, Understanding the Backlash Against Affirmative Action, Dr. Fobanjong examines the social and political forces that are responsible for this divide. He goes beyond addressing reasons that account for the backlash against affirmative action, to providing a historical overview of the role that was played by Democratic as well as Repbulican Presidents, including Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, in developing and implementing affirmative action programs. He develops a conceptual model that explains the inevitability of the backlash against affirmative action. It is the only book on affirmative action that goes beyond what is seen by many as a typically domestic controversy to looking at it from a cross-national basis. Using India, South Africa and the United States, he examines the similarities and differnces of affirmative action experiences on these three major continents. The book provides an outstanding analysis of this very complex and rather sensitive subject. Irrespective of one's political affiliation (Democrat or Republican), one would find that the book is balanced, thoughtful, and very well researched. The book opens your mind to the various roles that the three branches of government have played in addressing the affirmative action debate. "Understanding the Backlash Against Affirmative Action" is a must read for anyone interested in getting answers for this rather intractable public policy controversy. David Mollet