The politics of representation in the US national statistical system: origins of minority population interest group participation

The United States is an "interest group society" and federal statistical po licy, like all other aspects of contemporary American political life, is do minated by well-organized interest groups; The public review to revise the "Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity," f ormerly known as "Statistical Policy Directive 15" was notable for the sign ificant presence of minority population interest groups. The politics of re presentation in the national statistical system during the 1970s is the sub ject of this article. The first part of the article summarizes the role tha t interest groups played in the recent debates on revising Statistical Poli cy Directive 15. The second part of the article discusses the origins of na tional statistics on minorities and their efforts during the 1970s to achie ve inclusion in the body politic through representation in the federal stat istical and administrative reporting systems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.