RACE, EMPLOYMENT AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES - TOWARDS A POLITICAL-ECONOMY AND AN AGENDA FOR THE 1990S

This paper attempts to provide a broad overview of the recent history of equal opportunities, particularly of work-place policies and progra mmes directed towards ethnic minorities. It identifies three main stag es in the recent history of equal opportunities at the work-place and seeks to connect these with an analysis of the economic arrangements a nd dominant political philosophies characteristic of each phase. The p aper concludes by noting that there is currently a wide-spread view th at equal opportunities policies represents a happy coincidence of prin ciple and expediency for firms in the 1990s. It suggests that whilst a number of trends with the potential to realise this promise can be di scerned, other outcomes are possible. Writing in mid-1992, it remains to be seen whether the new rhetoric of citizenship and business effici ency can secure both the continuing commitment of those with the power to make changes and the enduring support of the disadvantaged.