Is Affirmative Action Fair?

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the two greatest periods of negative discourse that occurred following the implementation of affirmative action in the areas of preferential treatment of women and minorities in workplace environments and in regards to college admissions. The paper discusses the white workers who filed grievances against the affirmative action policies of their employers and the student who sued a college and relates the outcome of these Supreme Court cases. The paper explains the position of some that these policies of preferential selection were defensible since they helped to right past wrongs, and these policies would result in a society in which race or gender did not matter. The paper then considers the perspective of others, however, who argue that affirmative action not only forces reverse-discrimination, but also perpetuates the notion of further racism or sexism by implying implicit disadvantages of being black or of being a woman. The paper concludes that, in general, the inherent advantages of white male privilege trumps any sort of disadvantage presented by affirmative action.

From the Paper:

"In the era around the 1960s in the United States and spurred by a period characterized as the American Civil Rights Movement, the government began to examine ways to correctively remedy what they perceived to be a growing problem in American schools and business places. The representation of women and ethnic minorities had been historically low, and a government-legislated Affirmative Action was planned in order to increase the inclusion of these groups. Over the years since the 60s, many heated discussions taking place on the legislative floor, in the chambers of the Supreme Court, and among civilians have erupted, many debating the merits of Affirmative Action. While some see this step as an important part of paying reparation to underrepresented minorities, others are concerned that the line between eliminating negative selection of minorities workers and instigating policies of preferential selection is very thin and that certain policies actually cross this line regularly."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, Elizabeth S. "Integration, Affirmative Action, and Strict Scrutiny," New YorkUniversity Law Review, 77 (November 2002), 1195-1271.
• Beckwith, Francis J. & Jones, Todd E. (eds). Affirmative Action: Social Justice orReverse Discrimination? Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1997.
• Boylan, Michael. "Affirmative Action: Strategies for the Future," Journal of SocialPhilosophy, 33 (Spring 2002), 117-130.
• Dreyfuss, Joel & Lawrence, Charles III. The Bakke Case: The Politics of Inequality. NewYork: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.
• Edley, Christopher, Jr. Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action and AmericanValues. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996.

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