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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICIES AND RACIAL INEQUALITY: THE ROLE OF PUBLIC POLICY
Author(s) -
SOLOMOS JOHN
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9299.1989.tb00715.x
Subject(s) - inequality , contradiction , public policy , government (linguistics) , political science , equal opportunity , public administration , racial equality , racism , sociology , public economics , economics , law and economics , law , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics , mathematics , epistemology
This article examines the seeming contradiction between the publicly stated objective of successive governments to promote greater equality of opportunity for racial minorities and the limited impact of successive policies and programmes on processes of racial discrimination and exclusion in British society. The article begins by outlining the different conceptual approaches used to analyse the development of public policies on racial inequality. It then analyses the main aspects of national policy change in this area over the past two decades, and more recent initiatives which have sought to use local government as a vehicle for promoting racial equality. This analysis offers a critical review of the achievements and limitations of both past and present policies. The concluding section takes up the question of the prospects of change in the future.