ABSTRACT
Considerable support has emerged for the notion that the government should "look like America". This chapter examines policies and practices that may undermine the achievement of the goals envisioned by the theory of representative bureaucracy. It designs to lay the groundwork for that investigation. A report written for the Department of Labor in 1987, Workforce 2000, has been described as a "wake up call" to employers across the country. The chapter reviews the development of the concept of representative bureaucracy as an antidote to bureaucratic power in the United States. Alongside these other proposals for ensuring that the bureaucracy is responsive to the people arose the notion of representative bureaucracy. The history of discrimination against women and people of color within and outside the federal government; the high political salience of race, ethnicity, and sex. The chapter contributes to filling that gap through an empirical investigation, based on government-wide data, of the nature and consequences of such limitations.
