| Abstract: | This article argues that those opposing affirmative action and reverse discrimination constitute a countermovement, working against the social movement for equal employment opportunity (EEO). Like women and minorities promoting EEO, opponents of reverse discrimination utilize litigation as a social movement tactic, mobilizing federal EEO laws. This study analyzes judicial decisions in EEO reverse discrimination cases between 1965 and 1985 to test four hypotheses about countermovement legal mobilization: that (1) many cases reach court, (2) plaintiffs are highly organized, (3) organization relates to success in court, (4) and plaintiffs win. Contrary to expectations, few reverse discrimination cases occur, and plaintiffs are not well-organized and usually lose; better-organized plaintiffs meet more success but there are few of them. The cases provide little evidence that reverse discrimination is widespread. |
