Rhoads/Saenz/Carducci: Affirmative Action as a Social Force

The authors describe two ways of looking at Affirmative Action which I have usually lumped together. "Backward looking" refers to using affirmative action to counter the lack of opportunities which minorities have faced. "Forward looking" seeks to create a more diverse workforce to succeed in a multicultural environment. This article looks at Affirmative Action as a social movement and brings up the history of its formation to help bolster support for it. The authors look at the collective action of members of both sides of the argument as a characteristics of social reform.

Alberoni described love as a social movement, drawing on earlier arguments that it only takes two or more people to create a social movement. In fact, the ideology of love has affected many people. Love has taken many forms and has been shaped by religion and other cultural forms, as well as by government actions. Marriage laws are a good example of this. But I'm going on a tangent.

Rhoads et al. also note that just because affirmative action started in civil rights movement doesn't mean that majority agreed with it. The struggle toward equal opportunities continues today. The rise of the argument of "reverse discrimination" has fueled the opposition. It's hard to say if the "Powell Promise," of the Bakke case, that Justice Powell advocated the use of race as plus factor to foster diversity in the university will have bearing in current debates.