Integration,Desegregation and the Work of the Past

Abstract

A masterful study of the entrenchment and disastrous consequences of post-civil rights era racial segregation, Elizabeth Anderson's The Imperative of Integration more than lives up to its title. This article highlights two contributions of Anderson's book: the way it models the work of non-ideal theorizing by offering an empirical account of the contemporary US that is grounded in close study of the most pressing social problems and the consequences of different remedies; and the way it re-conceives the argument for affirmative action. The article also raises two concerns about Anderson's approach. First, it contends that Anderson's argument depends too heavily on the cultivation of national identity and is insufficiently attentive to the dangers of such identification. Second, it demonstrates what is lost when segregation is approached as a problem to be solved. In conclusion, this article advocates a politics of de-segregation as an alternative that shares many of Anderson's ends without losing sight of the limitations of integration as an ideal.