University of New England

George Washington University sociologist Amitai Etzioni to discuss society in the face of shifting minority demographics

Profound demographic changes in America's two largest minority populations (African-Americans and Hispanics), and the impact those changes will have on our society, is the topic of two University of New England lectures by world-famous author and sociologist Amitai , Ph.D.
 
Etzioni's lectures are part of UNE's Core Connection Series. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Etzioni, author of 19 books, including the recently published The Monochrome Society, will speak on "In Search of a Just, Color-Blind Society" on Friday, September 30, 2005, at noon in the Multipurpose Rooms, Campus Center at UNE's Biddeford Campus, and at 5:30 p.m. in Ludcke Auditorium at UNE's Westbrook College Campus on Stevens Avenue in Portland.
 
Etzioni will discuss how Hispanics are replacing African-Americans as the leading American minority. He points out that Hispanics are not a race, but a conglomerate of ethnic groups. Many of them marry outside their group, and most attempts to draw them into any single political category have failed. Etzioni calls for a color-blind society that continues Affirmative Action plans and "set asides" for those who are disadvantaged based on economic and social conditions, but not on their skin color.
 
Amitai Etzioni is the first University Professor of The George Washington University. He also was the Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School and for 20 years professor of sociology at Columbia University. He served as senior advisor to the White House and was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. Etzioni's writing is frequently published in leading newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. He also makes numerous appearance on network television. He is editor of a communitarian newsletter, and is often referred to by the media as the "guru" of the communitarian movement.

(Photo by Thom Kohou)

(Press release issued August 3, 2005)