Toward Representative Bureaucracy: Blacks in City Police Organizations, 1975-1985

Debate over how to achieve racial parity or representation in public bureaucracies continues. Use of numerical goals and timetables for the purpose of taking affirmative action to achieve a representative bureaucracy reflective of Blacks, other minorities, and women have prompted charges of reverse discrimination against Anglo males. Affirmative action is seen by some as undermining merit principles, while others maintain that affirmative action enhances the merit system.