City Managers and Affirmative Action: Testing a Model of Linkage

AFFIRMATIVE action ranks alongside school busing and legalized abortion as one of the most controversial policy issues of the postwar era. While a great deal is now known about public opinion on affirmative action, very little is known about the views of government officials whose support or opposition plays a major role in determining the success or failure of programs designed to bring more minority employees into government service. Our purpose in this paper is to examine the views of affirmative action held by a key group of officials, city managers, and to test a model of the factors affecting these views.