eBook

Inventing equal opportunity

Dobbin, Frank

2009,2011

Overview

Equal opportunity in the workplace is thought to be the direct legacy of the civil rights and feminist movements and the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yet, as Frank Dobbin demonstrates, corporate personnel experts--not Congress or the courts--were the ones who determined what equal opportunity meant in practice, designing changes in how employers hire, promote, and fire workers, and ultimately defining what discrimination is, and is not, in the American imagination. Dobbin shows how Congress and the courts merely endorsed programs devised by corporate personnel. He traces how the first measures were adopted by military contractors worried that the Kennedy administration would cancel their contracts if they didn't take \"affirmative action\" to end discrimination. These measures built on existing personnel programs, many designed to prevent bias against unionists. Dobbin follows the changes in the law as personnel experts invented one wave after another of equal opportunity programs. He examines how corporate personnel formalized hiring and promotion practices in the 1970s to eradicate bias by managers; how in the 1980s they answered Ronald Reagan's threat to end affirmative action by recasting their efforts as diversity-management programs; and how the growing presence of women in the newly named human resources profession has contributed to a focus on sexual harassment and work/life issues. Inventing Equal Opportunityreveals how the personnel profession devised--and ultimately transformed--our understanding of discrimination.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: Activism / Affirmative action / Affirmative action programs / Affirmative action programs -- United States / Americans / Anti-discrimination law / Bias / Bureaucrat / BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Human Resources & Personnel Management / BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Workplace Culture / Career / Civil rights / Civil rights -- United States / Civil Rights Act / Civil Rights Act of 1964 / Consultant / Discrimination / Discrimination & Race Relations / Discrimination in employment / Discrimination in employment -- United States / Disparate impact / Diversity in the workplace / Diversity in the workplace -- United States / Diversity training / Economist / Edelman / Edelman (firm) / Employee benefit / Employment / Employment discrimination / Employment policy / Equal employment opportunity / Equal Employment Opportunity Commission / Equal opportunities / Equal opportunity / Executive order / Federal agency (Germany) / Federal judge / General Electric / Guideline / Harassment / Harvard Business Review / Human resource management / Human resources / Human Resources & Personnel Management / Industrial relations / Insurance / Labor relations / Labour law / Lawsuit / Lawyer / Layoff / Legislation / Management & Organizational Behavior / Master of Business Administration / National Association for the Advancement of Colored People / National Association of Manufacturers / National Labor Relations Act / National Labor Relations Board / National Organization for Women / Payroll / Personnel management / Personnel management -- United States / Plaintiff / Politician / Private sector / Profession / Racism / Recruitment / Regulation / Requirement / Reverse discrimination / Salary / Separation of powers / Sexism / Sexual harassment / Sexual harassment of women / Sexual harassment of women -- United States / SOCIAL SCIENCE / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations / Sociology / Supervisor / The Conference Board / The New York Times / Trade union / U.S.A / Unemployment / United States / United States Department of Labor / Vice president / Welfare / Work place / Workforce / Workplace / World War II
• ISBN: 9781400830893, 069114995X, 9780691149950, 1400830893, 9780691137438, 0691137439