Essential reading for anyone
hoping to understand the national controversy about set-asides and other
forms of affirmative action.
"I strongly recommend
this book to sociologists, political scientists, politicians, and business
leaders as an analysis of race relations and economic development."
-- Lewis M. Killian, author of Black and White: Reflections of a White
Southern Sociologist
This path-breaking study examines
the accomplishments and limitations of the set-aside programs that have
moved to the center of national political debate about affirmative action
in the United States.
Balanced yet candid, it focuses
on the landmark case of Richmond v. Croson, in which the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled against the city of Richmond's set-aside program, which required
that thirty percent of the money in city construction contracts be awarded
to minority firms. The authors describe the politics that gave rise to
the set-aside program, investigate its actual operation, explore its effects,
and detail responses to it in both black and white communities.
They document that, while
the program served important political purposes, it produced limited economic
benefits for the broader African-American community, and conclude with
an examination of the politics of development as an alternative to the
set-aside framework that has been central to urban politics.
