Day 2: History of Social Equity

Social Equity is a Public Administration framework born in the 1960s as a means to make government agencies more accessible in the era of affirmative action.  The term Social Equity was coined by George Frederickson in 1968 and was proffered as the third pillar of Public Administration. Since the introduction of Social Equity there has been much debate around the theory of Social Equity and how practical applications can be operationalized. Initially, there remained a need to clearly define Social Equity so that Public Administrators could better adopt its principles. To that end, a symposium on Social Equity and Public Administration was held in which subject matter experts sought to clarify the theory.  

The result of the symposium was a series of essays by participants that explored the philosophical and historical dialogue around Social Equity. Most salient, is the recognition that Social Equity progress has typically been advanced through the judicial process as a result of lawsuits challengeing frameworks of racial segregation and inequlaity. For example, Brown v. Board of Education was a lawsuit to challenge the possibility of a doctrine centered on ‘separate but equal’. This challenge resulted in a judicial decision that shifted how school public school systems provided education services in the administration of the school system. 

In his book, Social Equity and Public Administration, Frederickson distinguishes between two groups of Public Administration theory:  (1) The Classical Bureaucratic Model and the (2) The Neobureaucratic Model. He notes that the Classical Bureaucratic Model emphasizes “structure, control, and the principles of administration,” while The Neobureaucratic Model emphasizes the “process of decision making being...decisions are made to achieve as much of a given goal as possible.”  Social Equity as a Public Administration Framework is possible in the latter versus the former because Social Equity takes a critical view of how Public Administrators manage. In other words, Social Equity is a framework centered on the government’s procedural responsiveness to the practical needs of the public that advances egalitarian principles:

“Embracing equity as the third normative pillar of public administration requires public servants to seek out and work toward more just allocations of public goods and services, to represent those who do not otherwise have access to public policy processes, to seek the public interest or greater good, and to respect the dignity of individuals…”

Categorical Assessments of Social Equity Programs

Frederickson defines 6 categories of Social Equity and their uses. These categories are listed below with associated characteristics.