In Search of Social Equity in Public Administration: Race, Gender, and Some “Class”‐ey New Ideas

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Jeremy L. Hall
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13502

In Search of Social Equity in Public Administration: Race, Gender, and Some “Class”-ey New Ideas 381

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:

see that ye be not troubled: for all these things

must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and

kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be

famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in

divers places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Matthew 24:6-8 (KJV)

We find ourselves once again in a state of war.

A literal war churns in Eastern Europe—

the materialization of imperialistic

ambitions by an aggressive nation, or perhaps just

the result of its communist dictator’s effort to cement

himself in the history books. While not yet formally

declared by nations beyond Russia and Ukraine,

this war is being fought in the hearts of people the

world over. We grieve for the innocents struggling to

defend themselves against a larger and better-supplied

aggressor. It is a true David and Goliath story, with

one giant nation shattering the global status quo to

pursue its evil ambitions. Nations large and small are

rallying to oppose such action through economic,

political, and social sanctions in hopes that global war

might be avoided. They hope that such measures will

dissuade the hungry bear from its gluttonous pursuits.

I fear that bear will only be further empowered by such

weak and indirect resistance, and once Ukraine has

been consumed, its appetite will turn to other targets

just as a bear acclimated to human society learns to

return to the same campground for a snack. I also fear

that our world will be more clearly divided as a result:

East versus West, Capitalist versus Communist, and

Democracy versus Autocracy. Opportunity-seeking

dictators may view this disruption as a cue to act on

their own imperialistic ambitions.

Another war churns on the streets and in our

homes—a war for fairness and inclusion of people

who may differ in nationality, race, gender, religion,

culture, or a host of other characteristics both

observable and unobservable. Nationality ties these

two wars together; identity tied to geography and

a shared history and culture. Social equity—social

justice—demands respect of all persons. Not all

systems of government cherish liberty or democracy;

fortunately, the right to self-determine and pursue

happiness remains a core value underpinning the

U.S. Constitution and the system of laws under

which we operate in the United States. Many modern

democracies share these values.

Identity is so often the source of conflict. Hitler’s

aggression against the Jewish people put identity in

the spotlight leading up to WWII; the creation of the

nation of Israel in 1948 is a strong example of the role

geography plays in identity. Taiwan identifies as an

independent island nation with its own democratic

government, earned through civil war. China,

however, identifies Taiwan as part of its territory, and

there is wide speculation that current weakness from

the political West may embolden China to act to

restore Taiwan and remove its democratic government.

Identity is complex. It is multifaceted. Some of it is

predetermined, while some of it is a matter of choice.

Liberty and democracy protect individual freedoms,

but a quick refresher on U.S. history reveals a host of

imperfections. For all those imperfections, we inch

closer to getting it right every day—from the abolition

of slavery to women’s suffrage, through the civil rights

movement, to the war being fought today for equality

and justice for all.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words bear record

of this struggle: “I have a dream that my four little

children will one day live in a nation where they

will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by

the content of their character”(1963). If you are

reading this issue in print, you undoubtedly noticed

a symbolic change to our cover design—I requested

that this issue be published without color on the

cover. Why? This issue contains our much-anticipated

Jeremy L. Hall

University of Central Florida

In Search of Social Equity in Public Administration: Race,

Gender, and Some “Class”-ey New Ideas

Editorial

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 3, pp. 381–385. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13502.

Jeremy L. Hall is a Professor of Public

Administration and Director of the PhD

program in Public Affairs at the University

of Central Florida. He is President of

the Southeastern Conference of Public

Administration, a National Academy of

Public Administration Fellow, and Editor in

Chief of Public Administration Review.

Email: jeremy.hall@ucf.edu