ABSTRACT
The diversity machine is the latest in a series of social movements designed to transform American ethnic relations. The moral tension underlying American race relations was bluntly identified by Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal in his 1944 classic, An American Dilemma: the gap between egalitarian ideals versus blatantly unequal treatment of African Americans. Maintaining social control and societal stability have been underlying themes of both progressivism and the diversity machine, though through sharply differing approaches. It was the gathering civil rights movement, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and transformation of affirmative action theory and practice that paved the way for diversity machine. By the end of the 1970s, affirmative action theory and practice had undergone a major transformation. The transformation of affirmative action from equality of opportunity into equality of results was accompanied by what Charles Murray first termed a shift in "elite wisdom" and what Christopher Lasch later characterized as a "revolt of the elites.".
