Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration

Truth, Racial Healing, And Transformation:

Heath Brown — 2024-01-03

The public policy process in the United States has strong status quo biases that frustrate efforts to adopt policies focused on racial justice and social equity. On occasion, a policy window opens and the chance for real change increases greatly. This article is a case study focused on advocacy for a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Commission during an open policy window that occurred in 2020 related to brutal police violence (readers should know in advance that traumatic events covered in this article include descriptions of racial violence). The findings are drawn primarily from original interviews with advocates for the Commission, providing an outsider’s perspective on this political process.

Healing from Intersectional White Supremacy Culture and Ableism:

Rashmi Chordiya — 2024-01-03

In this exploratory article, we build on the existing literature to identify and discuss the patterns of white supremacy culture (WSC) that are pervasive in our organizational spaces. We argue that because WSC, racism, and ableism are deeply intersectional forms of oppression, our social equity approaches must include a disability justice (DJ) lens, which centers the leadership of multiply marginalized disabled, queer, trans*, Black, Indigenous, and negatively racialized People of Color (QTBIPOC). Using an embodied approach, we invite our readers into a deeper reflection and critical analysis of the intersectional manifestations of white supremacy culture and ableism in organizational spaces. We explore the ways in which the 10 principles of disability justice could serve in creating supportive countercultural norms, values, and behavioral practices needed to create the conditions for healing from white supremacy culture.

Black Leaders in American Foreign Policy:

Jennifer Brinkerhoff — 2024-01-03

Data on Black Ambassadors from 1949 to 2020 presented as WEB Du Bois-inspired data visualizations, and a historical review of Black Americans in the US State Department confirm the State Department has not achieved diversity reflective of American society. The theory of racialized organizations helps to explain why, and the lens of institutional theory suggests elements that could contribute to achieving a more representative State Department bureaucracy: 1) networks of institutional entrepreneurs; 2) accessing power and influence sources; as they work towards 3) establishing new norms; and 4) data for justice.

A Case Study in Vaccine Sharing Across Nations

Jongeun You — 2024-01-03

Research on social equity has grown substantially in recent years and has elevated the importance of addressing structural and systemic patterns of inequity in public service delivery. Through a social equity lens, this article explores the vaccine-sharing policies of China, India, the European Union, and the United States. Using the case of international vaccine sharing and a text-as-data approach, this article argues that the state actors’ commitments to sharing COVID-19 vaccines were insufficient to uphold fairness, justice, and equity. The article concludes with recommendations for practice and public administration theory development to expand the scope of social equity research to betweennation cases.

How Government-Backed Registered Retirement Savings Plans Impact Canadians’ Tax-Free Savings Account:

Gino Biaou — 2024-01-03

Personal savings can help cushion financial difficulties and reduce the need to apply for government assistance. This study examined who benefits the most and the least from the government-supported Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA). The compound theory of social equity was used to analyze data from the 2019 Canadian Survey of Financial Security. The results suggest that there are disparities in contributions to TFSA and RRSP based on the level of education and gender of single parents. Our analysis using correlation, OLS, and quantile regressions found that there are statistically significant but relatively small differences in contributions for less educated individuals and single-parent families led by women. These findings suggest that governments could focus on financial education, improve financial inclusion policies, and review rules on TFSA and RRSP contribution limits, which could pose a cognitive administrative burden for vulnerable households.

Gender Equity in Public Affairs Pedagogy:

Nicole M. Elias — 2024-01-03

Gender is an important component of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) pedagogy in public affairs, yet gender remains largely absent from public affairs education in three central ways: how courses are structured, the content of courses, and the practice of pedagogy. This article explains the value and need for gender equitable pedagogy in public affairs curricula. We conduct a descriptive analysis of scholarship and best practices from leading think tanks and public advocacy research organizations. Ultimately, this work provides recommendations to strengthen gender equity pedagogy both inside the classroom and in public sector workplaces.

How Can the Police Avoid Earning Our Distrust?

Mark Benton — 2024-01-03

The American public’s distrust in the police is at a historic high. Distrust impairs the ability of the police to meet their objectives. It is therefore important to better understand how the police can avoid earning distrust. Using data from the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS), we explore the associations of police distrust among African Americans. Americans as a group are overpoliced, but we focus on African Americans because of their especially high levels of interaction with the police bureaucracy and the damage police racial inequity has to their citizenship. If the police can avoid earning distrust with African Americans, police could avoid earning distrust with Americans broadly. We find that recent, frequent, discriminatory, and low-quality stops are associated with increased police distrust. This suggests that police can minimize earning distrust by avoiding unnecessary stops and, when stops cannot be avoided, by focusing on quality, nondiscriminatory interactions.

Social Equity of Public Participation Environments

Jill Clark — 2024-01-03

To address the lack of research on institutional barriers to public participation, we examine participation environments by studying neighborhood commissions. Using the Strategic Action Field Framework for Implementation Research, we illustrate how city-level policies interact with commissions and organizational-level driving forces to create experiences for citizens. Data were analyzed using structural and elaborative coding and suggest there is value in using the cultural frames of strict father and nurturing parent as an interpretive tool. The strict father frame shapes the environment via norms, policies, and practices, and communicates preferences for citizen identities. Time pressures reinforce this frame. To realize environments that advance social equity, findings reveal that three conditions must be present: a) nurturing parent norms, practices, and policies that are coupled with a consensus on the purpose of participation, b) mutual understanding of past racist policies, and c) trust between actors. Seven propositions are offered for further study.

Equity in the End:

Staci Zavattaro — 2024-01-03

This Promoting Social Justice essay brings attention to public sector death management, especially where equity concerns could arise. Based on interviews with deathcare professionals, some issues can include challenges of death certificates, land use at cemeteries, and coroner versus medical examiner systems. Research questions for future study are included in each section.

Review: Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives

Adam Croft — 2024-01-03

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Review: Fight: How Gen Z Is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America

Monica Lea — 2024-01-03

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Review: All Is Not as It Seems: A Critical Film Review of Bureaucracy, Democracy, Social Equity and Justice in Zootopia

Karen Sweeting — 2024-01-03

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