Preferential Policies

Rating:
Summary: Abundant research and conclusions
Review: As one would expect from Dr. Sowell's works, this one contains an extraordinary amount of research. Most of the political arguments in the United States center around preferences for minorities, and it seems that many of the proponents feel that this is somehow a uniquely American phenomenon. It is anything but.

What is surprising is the variety of preferences found worldwide. It is probably assumed that preferences are only applied to minorities, but Dr. Sowell details other "versions" of preferences, such as Malaysia's official preferences for the majority members of the population intended to reduce the impact of the Chinese minority.

One would think that people would learn from the lessons of experiences all over the world, but one would never know this without such a well-researched exposition as _Preferential Policies_.

Really, a fascinating read (or listen, if you get the unabridged book on tape as I did). It always amazes me how interesting Thomas Sowell makes a potentiall dry subject. Also good reading: Ethnic America.