Unit 7
Social Diversity and the Question of “Difference” in Policy-making and Administrative Governance

Unit 7 provides a theoretical and practical appreciation of the consequences of social diversity for both administrative governance and policy-making. The commentary and readings will challenge you to think about the consequences of ignoring social diversity in the design and implementation of public policies. You are encouraged to think about issues like “self-representation” in the policy process and “employment equity” in staffing the public bureaucracy, and to do so from a perspective that goes beyond simply recognizing the extent of social diversity in Canadian society and that actually embraces difference. This is a perspective that is not common in policy studies, and is even less common in the field of public administration. In other fields of social and political scholarship, however, many of these ideas have gained considerable acceptance in recent years.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed Unit 7, you should be able to achieve the following learning objectives:

1. Comment on the significance of social diversity for how we approach public policy-making and administration
2. Explain why advocates of identity politics argue that self-representation (and “authenticity of voice”) is so important to democratic policy-making
3. Understand the rationale for and functioning of “employment equity” in the federal public service
4. Discuss the relationship between social diversity and the “differential impact” of public policy