Positive Action and Community Cohesion

On the 8th of July, Dr. Gavrielides, IARS Director, spoke at the Institute of Education (University of London) conference on Positive Action and Community Cohesion. Dr. Gavrielides spoke about the Positive Action clauses in the Equality Act 2010 and provided a critical analysis of current policy and other equality legislation. Dr. Gavrielides also presented a number of available levers for community cohesion within human rights legislation.

"The government prepared the Equality Act 2010 without placing it within any regulatory theoretical framework. To some extend, the Act de-regulates, while some of its clauses re-regulate. It seems that unintentionally the Act is based on the reflexive regulatory theory which makes the assumption that public service providers and the public will proactively engage in the business of equality. This makes me really uncomfortable because there is lack of infrastructure for this to happen. More importantly, we are not living in an equal society" Dr. Gavrielides said.

To view the programme and Dr Gavrielides' presentation please click the links below. For more information email T.Gavrielides@iars.org.uk