NCJ Number
165507
Date Published
1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The author believes that overstated claims for special rights by interest groups such as women, gays, the disabled, and other minorities trivialize the worthy goals of the original civil rights movement and that competition for entitlements by victimized groups produces divisiveness in American society.
Abstract
The civil rights movement for blacks in the 1950's and 1960's became the model for other minorities and developed into an all-purpose movement of group victimization and special entitlements. The extensive use of group entitlements and legal preferences has undermined the civil rights movement, an example being recent sex discrimination cases that have produced large settlements. Diverse and often contradictory demands made by different social groups have diluted the goals of the civil rights movement, and interests of minority groups have been taken hostage by elite and well-funded organizations pushing unrelated causes. As a result, these interests are trivialized by ideologues intent on encouraging class warfare and creating victim classes. 1 illustration