COOPERATION AND CONFLICT IN MULTIRACIAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS

This study examines politics in 118 multiracial urban school districts. It starts with an examination of the logic of the “rainbow coalition,” suggested as feasible by both academics and politicians. A rival hypothesis based on social distance theory would suggest more intergroup conflict than would the rainbow coalition thesis. Using elections to urban school boards, we find evidence consistent with the notion that Anglos will coalesce with Latinos rather than Blacks. The evidence suggests that in future research the power thesis should be a coequal rival hypothesis with the rainbow coalition thesis. © 1991, Southern Political Science Association. All rights reserved.