This article considers how the persistence of race inequalities can be addressed in the field of regeneration. Race has been a consistent feature in inner urban areas yet there is…
Abstract
Purpose
This article considers how the persistence of race inequalities can be addressed in the field of regeneration. Race has been a consistent feature in inner urban areas yet there is little to suggest contemporary means of regeneration has taken this on board.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is based on a series of qualitative, semi‐structured interviews that were undertaken as part of ongoing work associated with the implementation of the Equality Standard for Local Government in England.
Findings
An emergent set of relations between equality, social inclusion and community cohesion is evident. As a result, aspects of inequality continue to lie at the heart of public sector intervention policies such as regeneration.
Research limitations/implications
The article suggests that while there may be methods of management to help ensure good equality principles, it is the role of local democratic and political processes to eradicate such practice.
Practical implications
The findings are important to public sector management. Continued work on Equality Standard for Local Government should take on board the findings of this article.
Originality/value
The article adds knowledge to how, in the field of regeneration, the characteristics of institutional racism can be locked into the practices and organizational cultures of public sector agencies.
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There is a central theme to this collection of essays and reflections, which is that we are in a period of profound and significant change. And whilst some elements of this period…
Abstract
There is a central theme to this collection of essays and reflections, which is that we are in a period of profound and significant change. And whilst some elements of this period of change derive from the instability of the financial and banking sectors, there is a more important set of changes taking place. We think that these changes open the possibility of imagining an alternative to the market-based relationships of the past 30 years. We have characterised these relationships as ones which reflect the dominant ideology of neo-liberalism and that within advanced capitalist economies these relationships have determined social, welfare and public policy decisions. And a key part of this has been the dominance of a different discourse on the nature of civil society, the relationship between the individual, the market and the state, and that, as a consequence, the role of public agencies and institutions as a crude welfare safety net has been undermined over time. The crash of 2008, we suggest, had a profoundly destabilising impact on this social/political settlement. It appears to have accelerated the rush towards market-led solutions and the retreat of the ‘public’ from within public conversation.
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to consider “equality mainstreaming” as an international policy and to explore some of the implications this raises for public…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to consider “equality mainstreaming” as an international policy and to explore some of the implications this raises for public management.
Design/Methodology/Approach – The methodology is based on literature review looking at the way gender mainstreaming practices have developed a wider application to equality mainstreaming. Examining the relationship between mainstreaming and evidence-based management, it comments on the challenges this poses for public management.
Findings – Equality mainstreaming and its implications have been largely absent from public management discourse despite the growth of equality mainstreaming in international policy.
Research limitations/Implications – Research in public management should address mainstreaming and its potential for social change.
Practical implications – This chapter brings this issue to the forefront in an effort to engage academics and public managers.
Social implications – This chapter raises theoretical questions about mainstreaming and social change in favor of equality. It is a starting point for further research on public management as a tool for shifting organizational and societal values.
Originality/Value – The chapter provides an overview of previous literature and policy development in this area and then moves on to explore the implications of extending mainstreaming as a concept to other policy areas and examines both challenges and opportunities raised by this approach for the management of values in public services.
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There is an important intellectual and conceptual challenge for many of us working across the broad field of public sector management. Part of this challenge stems from the…
Abstract
There is an important intellectual and conceptual challenge for many of us working across the broad field of public sector management. Part of this challenge stems from the observation that there are three connected but separate profound policy and political changes taking place. Firstly, there is the impact of neo-liberalism as an ideological project and as a model(s) of managing national economies and social and welfare policy. We recognise that there are competing definitions of neo-liberalism and that we need to be careful about over-generalising its effect and its coherence. But, it does seem to us that by taking a longer term view we can see how the language and ideas of the primacy of markets and, in particular, markets in social and welfare policy have become dominant. This is not to say that in some places there is no resistance to these ideas and we can observe in the European Union how for a long time there was very explicit resistance to the ideas of the New Right. But the desire to weaken the role of the state as funder and provider of welfare services and the emergence of a counterview that markets and the privatisation of the welfare sector is the most appropriate choice is a demonstration of an ideological shift.