Equality conflicts and the rise of 'Non-Discrimination' as a contested norm in late 20th-century Western Europe

• Department of History

In the framework of the History Department Monthly Research Meetings, this event features a discussion with EUI Fernand Braudel Fellow Christiane Reinecke.

In the period from the 1960s onwards, 'non-discrimination' has turned into an influential, yet highly contested norm in various Western European societies. Whilst hardly in use beyond North America before the 1950s, 'discrimination' is now a key concept in political debates and social conflicts, and almost all Western European societies dispose of laws and institutional policies, reporting systems and political instruments that are intended to tackle 'discrimination', from non-discrimination laws to equal pay directives, from quotas to gender sensitive language and diversity training.

The transnational history of this norm’s career and of the various forms of 'doing non-discrimination' attached to it are the focus of this lecture. It discusses how 'non-discrimination' has turned into an influential norm in different Western European societies, and highlights the political struggles, legal transformations and forms of 'doing difference' connected to it. This way, the lecture seeks to gain insights into broader socio-political transformations: It discusses how (gendered, racialised, ethnicised or sexualised) positionalities and group-based prejudices became more central to social justice politics and how the new emphasis on equal rights contributed to a growing importance of court trials for social conflicts. Based on the exploration of different protests against gender and racial discrimination, the lecture presents a number of (still preliminary) thoughts on the changing 'grammar of social conflicts' in late twentieth century Western Europe.