Affirmative Action in India and the United States

Caste in India and race in the USA are often compared for their institutional similarities, and also because these categories form the social basis on which the affirmative action program in the two countries is based. While disadvantage and discrimination produce similar outcomes for certain groups...

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Main Author: Deshpande, Ashwini
Language:English
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9038
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spelling okr-10986-90382021-04-23T14:02:44Z Affirmative Action in India and the United States Deshpande, Ashwini World Development Report 2006 Caste in India and race in the USA are often compared for their institutional similarities, and also because these categories form the social basis on which the affirmative action program in the two countries is based. While disadvantage and discrimination produce similar outcomes for certain groups within caste- or race-divided societies, it is important to understand the differences between the two systems. In India, affirmative action policies have a much longer history than the US, are constitutionally guaranteed, and take the form of quotas in government jobs, educational institutions, and electoral seats at each level of government. In the US, the program is around 40 years old, not constitutionally guaranteed, and quotas are ruled out. Pro-active policy measures such as affirmative action must be backed by strong political will in order to successfully reduce inter-group disparities. 2012-06-26T15:35:09Z 2012-06-26T15:35:09Z 2005 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9038 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank South Asia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic World Development Report 2006
spellingShingle World Development Report 2006
Deshpande, Ashwini
Affirmative Action in India and the United States
geographic_facet South Asia
description Caste in India and race in the USA are often compared for their institutional similarities, and also because these categories form the social basis on which the affirmative action program in the two countries is based. While disadvantage and discrimination produce similar outcomes for certain groups within caste- or race-divided societies, it is important to understand the differences between the two systems. In India, affirmative action policies have a much longer history than the US, are constitutionally guaranteed, and take the form of quotas in government jobs, educational institutions, and electoral seats at each level of government. In the US, the program is around 40 years old, not constitutionally guaranteed, and quotas are ruled out. Pro-active policy measures such as affirmative action must be backed by strong political will in order to successfully reduce inter-group disparities.
author Deshpande, Ashwini
author_facet Deshpande, Ashwini
author_sort Deshpande, Ashwini
title Affirmative Action in India and the United States
title_short Affirmative Action in India and the United States
title_full Affirmative Action in India and the United States
title_fullStr Affirmative Action in India and the United States
title_full_unstemmed Affirmative Action in India and the United States
title_sort affirmative action in india and the united states
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9038
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