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Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

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Following the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, several efforts were made to combat the effects of systemic racism in society, one of which is known as Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action, as defined by social justice advocate Tim Wise, is “any race—or gender—conscious effort to hire, recruit, promote, train, or admit qualified women and people of color for educational, employment, or contracting opportunities.” Often, people assume that such programs give unqualified people of color jobs or admittance, simply due to race and therefore steal spaces from qualified white people. However, this is not the case. These programs seek out applicants that meet the criteria of the spots they are applying for and also work to benefit white women, people with disabilities, and even veterans. Ultimately, these misconceptions stem from a lack of knowledge about Affirmative Action and are a byproduct of white privilege. …show more content…

It was carried out by President Johnson in 1965. It sought to guarantee that all who applied for jobs would not face discrimination, both during the hiring process and when working. Essentially, the goal was to make up for the disparities that people of color had to face, due to how society viewed them. This is seen as “leveling the playing field.” These disparities prevented people of color from being hired into jobs or being accepted to schools. Though they supposedly had equal opportunity to apply as white people did, they were denied positions as a result of prejudices in the minds of those evaluating them or because they did not have access to the same resources to prepare as whites. This meant that society was lacking

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Critics of affirmative action frequent describe the policy as being unfair, asserting that it contravenes a conserved system of meritocracy in the country by basing selection decisions on demographic characteristics at the expense of ability and achievement (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1997). Defenders take a different position that can be explained by two facts: racism and sexism are still present in the United States society and affirmative action is the most efficient and effective way of reducing discrimination than the present alternatives. However, affirmative action increases fusion and fairness in employment and in education because it works as a proactive observing system. As Crosby and Smith (2005) consider, “such policies may help ensure that patterns of bias—including selective system bias— are uncovered and

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987 Words | 4 Pages

This affirmative action has worked to great effect, creating a more racially-just and diverse society than otherwise would have been the case. “Many view Affirmative Action as an expensive exercise that violates principles of merit of equal opportunity and that, in any event, has not achieved its original goals as enunciated by President Johnson in 1965. Further, there is no agreement or clarity about what, if anything should be put in its place” (Katznelson, n.d). The almost exclusively white-targeted nature of the extensive federal legislation before 1965 has largely been ignored by policy critics, just as it was ignored by Lyndon Johnson.

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Perhaps one way of defining and understanding the concept of white male privilege is to imagine that a white male walks through life with an invisible duffle bag full of unearned rights and privileges that a white male alone enjoys. These privileges are said to exist as these white males have something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, versus anything, in particular, they have either failed to do or have actually done. Because other groups do not walk through life with this invisible duffle bag full of unearned rights and privileges, Affirmative Action policies were initiated to provide those without an invisible duffle bag, a visible one; thus, allowing all to walk through life equally. In regards

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Affirmative action in the United States I believe that affirmative action negatively affects on both minorities and majorities. From a minority’s perspective, the idea that minorities can receive benefits from others due to their race, ethnicity, or gender can cause them to feel segregated against anyway. Since the term, ‘minority,’ no longer applies to every females or person of color today, female students or students of color with affluent backgrounds may feel segregated and devalued even when they did not get any special benefit from affirmative action policies. Majorities, in this case, male or white students, will also get discouraged because this can be regarded as a form of reverse discrimination, especially with racial affirmative action programs.

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Affirmative action renders untimely opportunity to racial and social minorities, which will never be given if this policy was not implemented. Social structures implemented within the society, tends to stigmatize and discriminate against racial and social minorities (women). Social structures are invented to privilege racial and social majorities (white, men), to succeed and climb up the ladder within the social economic state. This however put racial and social minorities down the social ladder, as they have limited resources such as money, good jobs and good education to be able to succeed within the social economy. Society on the other hand, looks down upon racial and social minorities; they are viewed as second class citizens due to negative stereotypes Imposed on them.

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According to Peter Thiel and David Sacks, "preferences hurt poor whites and even many Asians" (Source G). Whites and Asians, traditionally majority groups in college enrollment, have a disadvantage if affirmative action policies exist. Under affirmative action, these two groups must overcome an additional obstacle they cannot control: their race. As equality applies to all groups, this added disadvantage that whites and Asians face reflects the reverse racism created by affirmative action policies, an inequality unfavorable toward whites and Asians. The inequality becomes even more apparent in cartoons portraying affirmative action as a means through which minorities cheat the admissions system, doing so by utilizing affirmative action as a shortcut to the ultimate goal of admission (Source H).

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Affirmative Action is a perfect example of that, as the authors stated it, “did bring many more people of color into middle-income jobs where they could begin to save, buy homes, and build wealth. However, the gap is still not closed” (396). What Whites fail to realize is that with the implementation of this policy, the number one benefactors of the program were White women, but many use the existence of this policy as the reason Whites don’t have a fair chance at employment and college

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The supporters of Affirmative Action argue that the reason why Affirmative Action emphasized on race instead of socioeconomic status is that, most poor people in the United States is white people. “. . . racial diversity and socioeconomic diversity are not the same thing (because, in short, most of our poor people in this country are white). When a colorblind process emphasizing socioeconomic diversity was adopted at the law school at the University of California at Berkeley, African American enrollment in the entering class fell by approximately 60 percent” (Bollinger). Lee Bollinger, the former president of University of Michigan, stated in his speech at the College of Law at Willamette University, that emphasization on socioeconomic diversity during admission process brings African Americans into a more disadvantaged situation because in our country most poor people are white.

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In the United States of America, affirmative action was established in the 1960’s in order to redress the disadvantages of minority and historically excluded groups. Specifically focusing on issues in education and the workforce, affirmative action aimed to make these public institutions more representative of the population that they served. However, while affirmative action was meant to level the playing field, some argued that it brought about reverse discrimination against those who were not disadvantaged in this nation. Opponents asserted that affirmative action policies favor one group over another based solely on race rather than qualifications. No matter the argument, the Supreme Court debated this issue and attempted to accommodate

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This term is loosely defined as racism against the majority in these previously discusses systems (Plous, 2003). Many disagreeing parties have tried to bring cases and revision to affirmative action

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It’s important to remember affirmative action is a response to the discrimination that already exists. Even with affirmative action, women continue to earn seventy-seven cents for every male dollar. African Americans continue to have twice the unemployment rate of white people. Only two research universities in states with affirmative action bans have at least the same proportion of black students as the state’s college-age population. “Many events in recent years have served as important reminders that our Nation, despite path-breaking progress on some fronts, continues to face, and at times to struggle with, matters of race and inclusion that remain ever present in our communities,” lawyers for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wrote in a brief to the

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The fear is that without this policy, diversity will not always happen if left up to chance. It is true that schools and other organizations have discriminated against women and people of other race. This problem created an unfair advantage for males of the superior race. Supporters also charge that without affirmative action African Americans would have a more difficult process of being admitted into prestigious and predominately white universities (Hopkins, 2010). Affirmative Action allows minorities to reflect different areas of study and work that otherwise would have never been considered.

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Affirmative action is a messy, brute force method of trying to close the enrollment gap. Although on paper it may seem like a good idea to require colleges to admit a certain number of students of color, it actually gives an unfair advantage to minorities. A white student and a student of color with identical grades, test scores, and resumes do not have an equal chance of getting into the same college because one student belongs to a minority. Affirmative action causes the same problem it attempts to solve in reverse. Ashley K., a student who gave her opinion to the New York Times, says that she is “being given an advantage in college admissions” based on her race.

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906 Words | 4 Pages

In regards to second hand smoking, many gain negative health related effects like severe asthma and even lead to lung cancer. In addition, therefore as a country there must be more specific regulations on smoking nearby others that don’t smoke themselves or don’t pressure others to smoke with them. Taking action is what needs to happen in order to protect younger children from developing these harmful effects. This position on second hand smoking is being taken because there are many that have been affected by asthma or other health defects that slim down what you can do in life. “On a national level, several laws restricting smoking in public places have passed...Some states have passed laws regulating smoking in multiunit housing and cars.

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