"When Race Counts" investigates the use of race- conscious practices in social policy in America and Britain. It questions the distinction between affirmative action and preferential treatment and evaluates the effectiveness of a range of education and employment policies designed to counteract endemic and direct discrimination against ethnic minorities. The book utilizes both empirical and moral analyses to examine the controversial dilemma of whether and in what circumstances preferential treatment may be used as a means of improving the condition of minority groups. John Edwards looks at justifications for overriding the merit principle, arguing that it is in itself so flawed that to override it would cause no great damage to justice. He shows who bears the costs of such a policy, and then sets out the requirements of an acceptable policy of minority preference tailored to the disadavantages of specific minority groups.

Chapter 1 When race counts; Chapter 2 The nature and varieties of affirmative action; Chapter 3 The logic of affirmative action; Chapter 4 Affirmative action in employment; Chapter 5 The real thing; Chapter 6 Race-conscious practice; Chapter 7 Practice compared; Chapter 8 The moral dilemmas of preference; Chapter 9 Equal opportunities, merits and p References; Chapter 10 Tailored preference;