Modernity, anti‐racism and ethnic managerialism

Abstract

This article situates racism and anti‐racism within the tensions which are inherent in the complex of ideas defined as modernity. The ‘modernist’ approach to issues of racism and ethnicity, with all its pitfalls, is particularly evident in governance strategies in the 1990s with an emphasis on finding managerial solutions to complex political and social questions. The ambiguous and contested conceptualisations of ‘racial equality’ and the failure to adequately construct the idea of ‘difference’ within the idea of ‘equality’ characterise such strategies. The assessment of equality of treatment and outcome against the ‘white norm’ is a fundamental flaw. Allied to these issues are an unjustified faith in rational bureaucratic procedures which fail to take into account relative positions of power and powerlessness across ethnic groups and within public services. These issues are exemplified through analysis of the operation of ‘ethnic managerialism’ in two organisational contexts; the Benefits Agency and the NHS Ethnic Health Unit. Avoiding the issues of voice and empowerment is shown to be likely to increase the adverse effects of ‘ethnic managerialist’ approaches. In conclusion, the exemplified distance between policy and theorisation indicates the increasing importance of seeking improved ways of resolving and managing underlying tensions and rejection of the ‘tragic anti‐intellectualism’ (Gilroy, 1994) which can often characterise policy debates over issues of racism and ethnicity.