Minority Groups in Public Bureaucracies

• Author: Frank J. Thompson
• DOI: 10.1177/009539977600800206
• Published date: 01 August 1976
• Date: 01 August 1976

[201]

MINORITY

GR OUPS

IN

PUBLIC BUREAUCRACIES

Are

Passive

and

Active

Representation

L inked?

FRA NK J.

THOMPSON

Department

of

Political

Science

University

of

Georgia

Do

minority

civil

servants

actively

represent

the

minority

community

more

than

white

officials

do ?

Many

observers

express

doubts.

Clearly,

there

are

formidable

barriers

to

nonwhite

civil

servants

acting

as

representatives

of

their

racial

groups.

Nonetheless,

existing

evidence

suggests

that

nonwhite

officials

do

serve

in

this

capacity

under

certain

circumstances.

A

major

task

for

students

of

public

administration

is

to

specify

what

these

circumstances

are.

The

author

notes

several

societal

and

job

related

factors

which

increase

prospects

that

minority

officials

will

actively

represent

their

racial

communities.

Efforts

to

change

the

racial

composition

of

public

bureau-

cracies

pose

a

number

of

momentous

questions

for

students

and

practitioners

of

public

administration

(McGregor,

1974;

Nigro,

1974).

One

of

the

most

intriguing

involves

the

impact

of

such

hiring

policies

on

political

representation.

Does

increased

recruitment

of

civil

servants

from

a

certain

racial

group

increase

the

substantive

representation

of

the

group

when

government

makes

and

implements

public

policy?

Mosher’s

(1968:

12-13)

distinction

between

passive

and

active

representation

lies

at

the

heart

of

this

query.’

Passive

representation

focuses

on

demographic

attributes.

It

refers

to

the

degree

to

which

the

socioeconomic

backgrounds

of

civil

AUTHOR’S

NOTE

I

wish

to

thank

John

Gist,

Robert

T.

Golembiewski,

Karen

Johnson,

Ed

Portis,

and

Benna

Thompson

for

helpful

comments

on

an

earlier

draft.

The

author

assumes

responsibility

for

any

defects

in

the

preseftt

version.

ADMINISTRATION

&

SOCIETY,

Vol.

8

No. 2,

August

1976

©1976

Sage

Publications,

Inc.

[202]

servants

&dquo;mirror

the

total

society.&dquo;2

Active

representation

denotes

situations

in

which

the

administrator

&dquo;presses

for

the

interests

and

desires

of

those

whom

he

is

presumed

to

represent.&dquo;

The

purpose

of

this

essay

is

to

examine

the

relationship

between

the

passive

and

active

representation

of

minority

racial

groups

within

governmental

bureaucracies

in

the

United

States.3

3

At

present,

there

is

considerable

disagree-

ment

over

the

degree

to

which

greater

passive

representation

of

a

minority

group

contributes

to

its

active

representation.

Rosenbloom

(1973:

250),

for

instance,

concludes

that

in

the

United

States

we

probably

assume

too

much

when

we

take

it

for

granted

that

increased

hiring

of

minorities

&dquo;will

have

more

than

marginal

impact

on

active

representation.&dquo;4

Kranz

(1974:

435),

however,

suggests

that

once

employed,

minorities

&dquo;as

a

group

will

more

closely

mirror

the

needs

and

wishes

of

their

group,

whether

overtly

or

subconsciously,

than

non-minorities

do.&dquo;5

Mosher

notes

only

that

the

linkage

between

passive

and

active

representation

is

complex

and

enigmatic.

In

order

to

shed

some

light

on

this

linkage,

I

have

conducted

an

exhaustive

search

of

the

literature.

Un-

fortunately,

existing

analyses

deal

only

tangentially

with

race

and

active

representation

in

bureaucracies;

a

disproportionate

amount

of

evidence

concerns

only

certain

kinds

of

minorities

in

certain

occupations,

and

much

of

the

data

derives

from

studies

with

serious

methodological

flaws.

Still,

the

available

evidence

is

sufficiently

rich

to

permit

informed

speculation

about

the

link

between

passive

and

active

representation.

First,

however,

a

more

precise

statement

of

the

problem

is

essential.

What,

in

fact,

does

it

mean

to

say

that

civil

servants

actively

represent

their

racial

communities?

Supplementing

Mosher’s

initial

definition

with

Hanna

Pitkin’s

(1967:

113-143)

concept

of

representation

as

&dquo;acting

for,&dquo;

some

clarification

is

possible.

The

concept

of

active,

or

substantive,

representation

means

more

than

an

administrator

sympa-