Affirmative Action: History, Benefits, and Ongoing Debate

Background and History of Affirmative Action

The concept of affirmative action evolved in the aftermath of the Civil Rights era, primarily as one way of attempting to rectify a three-century-long history of racial injustice in North America. Technically, Black Africans were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865; however, genuine social equality would require almost another full century in some respects, and even longer than that in many others. Overt racial and ethnic discrimination persisted well into the second half of the 20th century, and institutionalized racism and myriad passive or "benign" forms of racism still exist in many communities even today (Halbert & Ingulli, 2007).

In principle, the idea behind affirmative action is that the descendants of African slaves and many members of other underprivileged minority groups had the benefit of fewer opportunities for success by virtue of their race, color, or creed. Since members of underprivileged minorities had fewer educational and employment opportunities for so long, social justice requires providing reasonable assistance necessary for them to overcome the obstacles to success. Generally, affirmative action initiatives manifested themselves in connection with differential scoring requirements on tests and other related criteria for admission to educational institutions, as well as preferential consideration for employment (Healey, 2003).

Proponents of affirmative action consider it a morally and ethically appropriate means of gradually resolving aspects of social injustice remaining from earlier periods of American national history. That view emphasizes the causal link between the slavery era and the patterns of poverty, unemployment, and urban blight that characterize many contemporary Black communities. Conversely, opponents suggest that even if the approach was justified when it was first introduced, the election of a Black man to the U.S. presidency in 2008 illustrates that those conditions have already been resolved. The more moderate position recognizes both the benefits of affirmative action and the potential detrimental consequences with which it is potentially associated.

Social Benefits of Affirmative Action

The fact that a Black man was elected to the U.S. presidency and that the First Lady is the direct descendant of former slaves certainly evidences that the United States has evolved tremendously as a moral and ethical society within the last century and a half. However, as encouraging as that is, the legacy of American slavery and racism cannot be considered completely resolved simply because one particularly gifted individual managed to overcome all the obstacles in his path. Rather, the remaining legacy of racial injustice in the U.S. can only fairly be described as truly a matter of the past when every minority individual has the benefit of the same opportunities as every member of the majority class.

Currently, minority status is still associated with lower rates of educational achievement, lower measures of professional success, and lower income. Statistically, minority children are less likely to complete high school, gain admission to prestigious colleges, or secure employment in many professional fields than non-minority children (Healey, 2003). Likewise, Black males are at significantly greater risk of becoming involved in criminality — both as perpetrators and as victims of violent crime — than their Caucasian counterparts. No serious sociologist or scientist considers this even remotely a function of innate differences between the races; in fact, the scientific consensus about the concept of race is that those distinctions are fundamentally arbitrary and not grounded in evolutionary science (Henslin, 2002; Macionis, 2003). Therefore, the statistical differences between races, colors, and creeds remain a function of various social inequalities, and they justify continued efforts such as affirmative action until opportunities are no longer determined by ethnographic differences.

Conclusion

In principle, the affirmative action concept has proven itself to be an effective social mechanism for resolving some of the remaining consequences of a shameful legacy of racial oppression and discrimination in American society. In decades past, it is uncontroverted that affirmative action opportunities enabled many members of racial and other minority groups to overcome some of the disadvantages attributable to their minority status.

However, as society begins to approach equilibrium in terms of the relative opportunity for prosperity and success, the potential negative consequences associated with pursuing social justice in this manner increase. In addition to unfairly benefiting members of minority classes who no longer need assistance, such programs may also unfairly reduce opportunities available to disadvantaged non-minority individuals. Perhaps the most ironic potential negative consequence of the affirmative action approach to social justice is its capacity to perpetuate negative stereotypes and the perception that members of minority groups are less capable of achievement on their own merits.

Ultimately, affirmative action has proven to be an effective mechanism for resolving social injustice. However, the closer to equilibrium society approaches in that regard, the greater the need to tailor such mechanisms to best address the actual disadvantages still faced by some minorities — without unfairly limiting the opportunities of non-minorities or tarnishing the accomplishments of members of minority groups whose successes are attributable to their own abilities and efforts.