Controversies In Affirmative Action

An engaging and eclectic collection of essays from leading scholars on the subject, which looks at affirmative action past and present, analyzes its efficacy, its legacy, and its role in the future of the United States. • Provides the most up-to-date, comprehensive information available relating to the practice of affirmative action in the United States • Features contributions and perspectives from fields as diverse as law, political science, history, critical race theory, women's studies, African American studies, sociology, criminal justice, education, and philosophy • Offers original research from experts in numerous disciplines • Covers major U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action, ranging from Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) to Fisher v. University of Texas (2013) • Includes endnotes with each chapter to facilitate research.

How to handle affirmative action is one of the most intractable policy problems of our era, touching on controversial issues such as race-consciousness and social justice. Much has been written both for and against affirmative action policies—especially within the realm of educational opportunity. In this book, philosopher Michele S. Moses offers a crucial new pathway for thinking about the debate surrounding educational affirmative action, one that holds up the debate itself as an important emblem of the democratic process. Central to Moses’s analysis is the argument that we need to understand disagreements about affirmative action as inherently moral, products of conflicts between deeply held beliefs that shape differing opinions on what justice requires of education policy. As she shows, differing opinions on affirmative action result from different conceptual values, for instance, between being treated equally and being treated as an equal or between seeing race-consciousness as a pernicious political force or as a necessary variable in political equality. As Moses shows, although moral disagreements about race-conscious policies and similar issues are often seen as symptoms of dysfunctional politics, they in fact create rich opportunities for discussions about diversity that nourish democratic thought and life.

Affirmative Action recounts the fascinating history of a civil rights provision considered vital to protecting and promoting equality, but still bitterly contested in the courts—and in the court of public opinion. "Special consideration" or "reverse discrimination"? This examination traces the genesis and development of affirmative action and the continuing controversy that constitutes the story of racial and gender preferences. It pays attention to the individuals, the events, and the ideas that spawned federal and selected state affirmative action policies—and the resistance to those policies. Perhaps most important, it probes the key legal challenges to affirmative action in the nation's courts. The controversy over affirmative action in America has been marked by a persistent tension between its advocates, who emphasize the necessity of overcoming historical patterns of racial and gender injustice, and its critics, who insist on the integrity of color and gender blindness. In the wake of related U.S. Supreme Court decisions of 2007, Affirmative Action brings the story of one of the most embattled public policy issues of the last half century up to date, demonstrating that social justice cannot simply be legislated into existence, nor can voices on either side of the debate be ignored.

An engaging and eclectic collection of essays from leading scholars on the subject, which looks at affirmative action past and present, analyzes its efficacy, its legacy, and its role in the future of the United States. This comprehensive, three-volume set explores the ways the United States has interpreted affirmative action and probes the effects of the policy from the perspectives of economics, law, philosophy, psychology, sociology, political science, and race relations. Expert contributors tackle a host of knotty issues, ranging from the history of affirmative action to the theories underpinning it. They show how affirmative action has been implemented over the years, discuss its legality and constitutionality, and speculate about its future. Volume one traces the origin and evolution of affirmative action. Volume two discusses modern applications and debates, and volume three delves into such areas as international practices and critical race theory. Standalone essays link cause and effect and past and present as they tackle intriguing—and important—questions. When does "affirmative action" become "reverse discrimination"? How many decades are too many for a "temporary" policy to remain in existence? Does race- or gender-based affirmative action violate the equal protection of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment? In raising such issues, the work encourages readers to come to their own conclusions about the policy and its future application.

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Medicine - Social medicine, Industrial / Occupational Medicine, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: Affirmative action refers to a policy that gives very special consideration to minority groups and women. In retrospect, the controversy surrounding affirmative action is demonstrated by the divide in the judicial system regarding the justification of this policy perspective. Additionally, the public, policy makers and the international community express diverse perceptions on affirmative action. Proponents of affirmative action argue that this policy promotes diversity and provide utilitarian justice to women and minority groups. In contrast, opponents observe that affirmative action undermines meritocracy, as well as perpetuating reverse discrimination. Overall, women and minority groups are underrepresented in the workforce, as well as college admissions. Alternatives such as socioeconomic affirmative action programs, including outreach programs, percent plans and extending financial aid to disadvantaged populations will enhance the achievement of gender, ethnic and racial equality.

An eminent authority presents a new perspective on affirmative action in a provocative book that will stir fresh debate about this vitally important issue

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Kassel (FB 05 - Geschichte Gro britanniens und Nordamerikas), course: Hauptseminar: Immigration and Ethnicity in American History, language: English, abstract: In this term paper the author discusses US race relations under the aspect of "affirmative action". Under the influence of the civil rights movement African-Americans and white liberals managed to achieve a breakthrough in civil rights legislation in the 1960s. This became the foundation of administrative measures that were intended to get minorities into business, civil service and colleges. These are called "affirmative action". The policy, designed to achieve equal opportunities for blacks, is itself ambiguous as the law prohibits discrimination ad preferential treatment of any US citizen. The author focuses on this dilemma. First she defines what affirmative action is, what its purpose is and to what extend it can lead to preferential treatment. Then a look is taken at the history of African-Americans since the end of slavery in the 19th century. This is inevitable to understand the intentions and goals of the civil rights activism of the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter four focuses on the pros and cons of affirmative action. One the one hand the author explores philosophical, legal and social arguments for the advancement of blacks. On the other hand she analyses legal criticism of affirmative action and the argument of "reverse discrimination". Finally, the author explains why the US still needs affirmative action and how it can be revised.