Resisting Institutional Change

Abstract

Concern about the condition of the urban black and ethnic minority communities led to the development of race relations and race equality policies by some inner city councils from the late 1970s. These policies were varied, the programmes not always coherent and the actual equality outcomes were good in a few cases and relatively insignificant in many others. At the time of writing, however, genuine race equality programmes remain a high priority only on paper, with the exception of a very few local authorities. Indeed, it could be argued that in the context of the late 1980s racial equality initiatives are being pushed to the back of the local political agenda.