Maximizing law's impact: Early enforcement of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the transformation of state capacity, 1965--1971

This is a study about state capacity and the conditions under which it is transformed. It is motivated by a straightforward question: how and under what conditions can state policy expand the opportunities and life chances of disadvantaged groups? I explore this question through historical analysis of early enforcement of Title VII---the first piece of federal legislation to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and other ascriptive criteria.; I chose this case study because it was theoretically puzzling. According to current perspectives on the state, Title VII and it enforcing agency---the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)---should have been doomed to failure. Unlike other federal agencies, the EEOC was given no formal powers to enforce Title VII and lacked a coherent organizational structure. Nonetheless, the EEOC, in conjunction with civil rights organizations and the federal courts, aggressively enforced Title VII and transformed its capacity to expand the life-chances of minority groups in the workforce. Explaining how a weak administrative agency became strong is the central goal of this study.; Using a narrative methodology that exploits the interplay of history and theory, I found that a combination of social movement pressure from below and broad legal construction by administrative and judicial actors helped transform state capacity to expand the legal resources of disadvantaged groups. My study concludes by offering some broader theoretical propositions on state capacity and the conditions under which it is transformed.