Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T12:28:40.073Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Black Employment in Municipal Jobs: The Impact of Black Political Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 1982

Peter K. Eisinger
Peter K. Eisinger*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An analysis of affirmative action data regarding levels of black employment in the civil service of forty-three U.S. cities indicates that observed variations are mainly a function of the size of the black population and the presence of a black mayor. By interpreting the size of the black population as an indicator of potential bloc voting power and by making explicit the links between the mayor's office and the personnel system, we may conclude that civil service hiring represents one tangible benefit of black political po wer. Other possible hypotheses explaining variations in levels of black employment are less satisfactory, including the argument that minority employment is mainly a function of the expansion or contraction of the public sector. The research suggests that to some degree a politics of ethnicity which involves the distribution of divisible economic goods to a particular group as a consequence of that group's political power is still a possibility in American cities.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 76 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 380 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. 1980. Significant features of fiscal federalism, 1979–80. Washington, D.C.: ACIR.Google Scholar
Benokraitis, N. and Feagin, J. R. 1978. Affirmative action and equal opportunity: action, inaction, reaction. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.Google Scholar
Bullock, C. S. 1975. The election of blacks in the South: predictions and consequences. American Journal of Political Science 19:727–39.10.2307/2110724CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, D., and Feagin, J. R. 1975. Black politics in the South: a descriptive analysis. Journal of Politics 27:129–59.10.2307/2128894CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, T. 1975. The Irish ethic and the spirit of patronage. Ethnicity 2:305–59.Google Scholar
Cole, L. 1976. Electing blacks to municipal office. Urban Affairs Quarterly 10:17–39.10.1177/107808747401000103CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornwell, E. 1980. Ethnic group representation: the case of the Portuguese. Polity 13:5–20.10.2307/3234688CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisinger, P. 1980. The politics of displacement: racial and ethnic transition in three American cities. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Eisinger, P. (in press) Black mayors and the politics of racial economic advancement. Ethnicity.Google Scholar
Erie, S. 1978. Politics, the public sector, and Irish social mobility: San Francisco, 1870–1900. Western Political Quarterly 31:274–89.10.1177/106591297803100209CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrar, D., and Glauber, R. 1967. Multicollniearity in regression analysis: the problem revisited. Review of Economics and Statistics 49:92–207.10.2307/1937887CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, M. 1961. Assimilation in America: theory and reality. Daedalus, 90.Google Scholar
Gruber, J. Political strength and policy responsiveness: The results of electing blacks to city councils. Paper presented at the meeting of the Western Political Science Association, 03 26–29, 1980, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Hall, G., and Saltzstein, A. 1977. Equal employment opportunity for minorities in municipal government. Social Science Quarterly 57:864–72.Google Scholar
Hill, H. 1977. The equal employment opportunity acts of 1964 and 1972: A critical analysis of the legislative history and administration of the law. Industrial Relations Law Journal 2:1–96.Google Scholar
Hill, R. 1978. The illusion of black progress. Washington, D.C.: National Urban League.10.1080/00064246.1978.11412681CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joint Center for Political Studies. 1979. Roster of black elected officials. Washington, D.C.: JCPS.Google Scholar
Jones, C. 1976. The impact of local election systems on black political representation. Urban Affairs Quarterly 11:345–54.10.1177/107808747601100305CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, M. 1978. Black political empowerment in Atlanta. The Annals 439:90–117.Google Scholar
Karnig, A. K. 1976. Black representation on city councills. Urban Affairs Quarterly 12:223–42.10.1177/107808747601200204CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keech, W. 1968. The impact of Negro voting. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Keller, E. 1978. The impact of black mayors on urban policy. The Annals 439:40–52.Google Scholar
Kranz, H. 1976. The participatory bureaucracy. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Krislov, S. 1967. The Negro in federal employment. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Levine, C. 1974. Racial conflict and the American mayor. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Lowi, T. 1964. At the pleasure of the mayor. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Pascal, A. 1979. The effects of local fiscal contraction on public employment and the advancement of minorities. Paper presented at a conference sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 06 19–20, 1979, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Pitkin, H. 1967. The concept of representation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520340503CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piven, F. F. 1973. Militant civil servants in New York City. In Burnham, W. (ed.), Politics/America. New York: Van Nostrand, Reinhold.Google Scholar
Thompson, F. J. 1978. Civil servants and the deprived: sociopolitical and occupational explanations of attitudes toward minority hiring. American Journal of Political Science 22:325–47.10.2307/2110619CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 1980. The president's national urban policy report. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Welch, S. and Karnig, A. 1979. The impact of black elected officials on urban expenditures and intergovernmental revenues. In Marshall, D. (ed.), Urban Policy Making, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Williams, R. 1977. Mutual accommodation: ethnic conflict and cooperation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, R. 1974. The politics of progress. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar