affirmative action request

[Steven Jamar]

Interesting  take on affirmative action in india -- which has had a  
huge impact on undermining the caste system, on including women, on  
getting power to untouchables, etc.

imperfect, but quotas can indeed work.

they work in South Africa, too, though of course they are not a  
panacea there either -- and some entities pay fines because they  
cannot meet the quotas with qualified blacks.  this is happening in  
particular in the public sector (like universities) because black  
lawyers of the skill and knowledge necessary to be professors are  
paid much, much more by law firms, banks, corporations, and even  
judgeships.

one reason not to use India is that the circumstances there are so  
very different in so very many ways that the lessons one would draw  
are at the very least contestable and are very very likely to be  
inapposite.

affirmative action has wrought huge positive changes in this country  
as well.

but, it has its problems.  so does the lack of it. so does the  
antagonism toward it and the anti-affirmative action measures taken  
by many.  check out the lack of success of the alternatives in  
California.

steve

On Oct 29, 2007, at 5:55 PM, Robert Sheridan wrote:

> You don't even need to find things that attack the legitimacy of  
> affirmative action.  All you need to do is to read about how it  
> works in a place where it is in use as a fundamental proposition  
> for a very diverse nation:  India.
>
> The book is called "In Spite of the Gods; the Rise of Modern  
> India," by Edward Luce,  2006 (or 7).  Here's the Amazon reference  
> as, my copy is in storage:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/348r7o
>
> Basically what happens is that "the backward peoples" (actual legal  
> name for a certain legal category of  groups) have a legal  
> entitlement to so many government jobs and other funding programs.   
> This makes the so-called (not so very) backward peoples a much  
> sought after group politically, sometimes with the top tier of  
> brahmins becoming allies with the bottom tier, the former  
> untouchables, trading votes and promises of jobs and money to  
> achieve power.  You read this and congratulate us for not going  
> down that road unless this is what you want to see here.
>
> I wondered why, during our debates on A-A, no one pointed to India  
> as a living laboratory, much better than any casebook example of  
> racial politics.
>
> rs
> sfls
>
>
> On Oct 29, 2007, at 1:31 PM, Sanford Levinson wrote:
>
>> I am supervising a senior thesis on the subject of affirmative  
>> action, and I want to give my student the very best things to read  
>> that attack the legitimacy of affirmative action.  I would be  
>> extremely grateful for any suggestions of the (single) best book  
>> or (two or three) articles that you would recommend to a student.   
>> Off-list replies are obviously OK.
>>
>> sandy
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"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

"Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis

-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                               vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                     fax:  202-806-8567
2900 Van Ness Street NW                   mailto:stevenjamar at gmail.com
Washington, DC  20008	                          http://iipsj.com/SDJ/



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