Some Arguments about Affirmative Action
Arguments in favor:
"Compensatory Justice"
1. Women and members of minority groups have been seriously harmed by unjust racial and sexual discrimination.
2. When people have been unjustly harmed, it is morally appropriate to compensate them for that harm.
3. Affirmative action programs provide women and members of minority groups with an appropriate sort of compensation for the harm they have suffered. (It allows them access to just the sorts of positions in society from which they were unjustly excluded by the discriminatory practices of the past.)
Therefore, affirmative action programs are morally appropriate.
"Breaking Down Barriers"
1. Women and members of minority groups have been, and still are, unfairly excluded from many desirable positions in our society. (Discrimination on the basis of race and sex has been, and still is, a significant aspect of our social reality.)
2. To bring an end to this unjust state of affairs it will not suffice to simply mandate an end to discrimination on the basis of race, gender, etc. because
a. many of the people who have the power to admit others to those positions still manifest racial and sexual prejudices (some conscious, some unconscious), and, at the same time, it is very difficult for victims of discrimination to prove that they were excluded because of their race or gender;
b. common practices which are not in themselves discriminatory, like hiring on the basis of word-of mouth, "old school ties", and the like, do, in fact, exclude women and members of minority groups and, thus, perpetuate the effects of past discrimination;
c. one effect of discrimination has been to deprive women and members of minority groups of an equal opportunity to acquire the sorts of qualifications that are normally required.
3. Affirmative action programs, on the other hand, will work to break down those barriers by putting members of previously excluded groups in positions where they can a) serve as role models for other members of their groups, b) acquire needed skills and experience, c) convince members of the dominant groups that they are capable of competent participation, d) extend a helping hand to other excluded people.
Therefore, affirmative action programs are morally required to overcome the continuing injustice of race- and gender-based exclusion.
"Valuing Diversity"
1. In many organizations, especially those concerned with the discovery of truth, the resolution of disputes, or the design or marketing of products and services, it is very useful to have access to the perspectives of people who come from a variety of social backgrounds and positions.
2. Race and gender are characteristics which typically have given people distinctly different experiences and perspectives.
3. Women and members of racial minorities have been largely excluded from these organizations, and consequently their perspectives and experiences are largely absent as well.
4. Affirmative action programs enable organizations (businesses, universities, etc.) to include women and members of minority groups (and thus their distinctive knowledge and perspectives) more quickly and effectively than would otherwise be possible. (They do so, in effect, by recognizing race and gender as a kind of "qualification" which may, sometimes, be worth considering along with other qualifications.)
Therefore, affirmative action programs are a useful tool for achieving organizational goals.
Arguments Against:
"Reverse Discrimination" (perhaps the most common argument)
1. Like the practices they are meant to compensate for, affirmative action programs are themselves forms of racial and gender discrimination.
2. All forms of racial and gender discrimination are unjust,
a) because they fail to treat citizens as equals before the law; or
b) because they involve judging people by irrelevant characteristics; or
c) because they fail to give the most qualified applicants their due.
Therefore, even if they are useful, affirmative action programs are unjust and unacceptable.
"Two Conceptual Difficulties"
1. For affirmative action programs to count as fair, it must be possible to specify morally appropriate criteria for deciding what groups are entitled to be the beneficiaries of such programs, and those criteria must be fairly applied.
2. Supporters of standard affirmative action programs assume that women and members of a familiar short list of racial minority groups are obviously entitled to such preferences, but, in fact, any criteria which would justify providing "affirmative action" for those groups would also justify providing it for a host of other groups (e.g., white "ethnics," the poor, recent immigrants, the disabled, etc.)
3. It must also be possible to specify criteria for deciding when affirmative action programs have accomplished their goals and are no longer needed.
4. No such criteria have been (or could be?) forthcoming.
Therefore, affirmative action programs have not been shown to be fair.
"Victim politics"
1. Social policies should be designed to encourage people to direct their efforts in socially useful directions and to distribute scarce social goods (like jobs and places in professional schools) according to rules that may be objectively applied.
2. Affirmative action programs, by implying that membership in a disadvantaged group will bring preferential treatment, give members of every such group an incentive to engage in "victim politics," striving, not to improve their marketable skills, but instead to prove how disadvantaged they have been. This effort produces no socially useful result.
3. Since membership in a previously disadvantaged group is not a reliable indicator that an individual is disadvantaged, and since the degree of disadvantage that different people have endured is subject to endless dispute that cannot be objectively resolved, the rules of affirmative action programs cannot be objectively applied in the required sense (and, again tend to produce squabbling about whose victimization is the worst).
Therefore, affirmative action programs are a bad idea.
"Encouraging Racism"
1. Because of the deficiencies of the schools available to most African-Americans, any strong affirmative action program for African-Americans will bring into schools and firms African-Americans who are substantially less qualified than their white colleagues.
2. Affirmative action requirements also lead firms and schools to treat African-American employees and students differently (overlooking their deficiencies, failing to provide honest criticism, not providing equivalent training), in ways that work to their disadvantage.
3. The programs also raise doubts (in themselves and in others) about whether African-Americans have attained their positions because of their competence or because of preferential treatment
Therefore, such programs are counter-productive, encouraging racist attitudes and perceptions instead of helping to overcome them.