Description
Book SynopsisIn studying this phenomenon, Deslippe deepens our understanding of American democracy and neoconservatism in the late twentieth century and shows how the liberals' often contradictory positions of the 1960s and 1970s reflect the conflicted views about affirmative action many Americans still hold today.
Trade ReviewA welcome examination of affirmative action opposition in the often-overlooked period before Bakke. Choice Deslippe's treatment of labor's resistance in particular is balanced, detailed, and nuanced, and he includes an excellent chapter on the precursor of Bakke, DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974)... A valuable discussion that clearly adds to the scholarship on this crucial subject. -- Kevin Yuill Journal of American History Ambitious and timely... The detail Deslippe provides in the creation of a 'reverse populism' that, in effect, made past discrimination into a union principle, is very powerful. -- Bill Barry Labor Studies Journal It is difficult to think of a more timely historical topic: persistent ambivalence about affirmative action again collides with an economic downturn as an increasingly conservative Supreme Court considers landmark cases that may resolve some legal questions but are unlikely to end the almost half-century-old moral and political debate. -- Serena Mayeri Journal of American Studies The detail Deslippe provides in the creation of a "reverse populism" that, in effect, made past discrimination into a union principle, is very powerful. -- Bill Barry Labor Studies Journal In uncovering the murky and complex pre-history of contemporary affirmative action debates, Deslippe shows how changing social and economic circumstances shaped diverse understandings of the meaning of race, sex, opportunity, and disadvantage. -- Katherine Turk American Studies
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
List of Acronyms and Initialisms
Introduction
1. "The Best 'Affirmative Action Program' Is Creating Jobs for Everyone": Organized Labor Responds to Affirmative Action, 1960–1974
2. "This Strange Madness": The Origins of Opposition to Higher Education Affirmative Action, 1968–1972
3. "This Issue Is Getting Hotter": The Struggle over Affirmative Action Policy in the Early 1970s
4. "Treat Him as a Decent American!": DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974) and Colorblindness in the Courtroom
5. "Do Whites Have Rights?": White Detroit Policemen and the "Reverse Discrimination" Protests of the 1970s
6. "The Fight for True Nondiscrimination": The Politics of Anti–Affirmative Action in the 1970s
Conclusion
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index
