Affirmative Action Essays (Examples)

This is a particular problem at the nation's colleges and universities. This has become so much of an issue that law suits and verdicts have been handed down in some states.
One of the most famous cases to date involved the University of Michigan's undergraduate and law school policies. These cases are Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. In 1997, Jennifer Gratz, a white woman, sued the University of Michigan undergraduate college because she was not admitted even though several black students with lower test scores and grades were granted admission. During the same year, Barbara Grutter, also a white woman, filed suit against the Law School for the same reasons.

In 2003 the cases were heard together at the Supreme Court. The court ruled that policies that take race into consideration are allowable under the constitution. The court explains that states have an interest in guaranteeing that there is…

Affirmative Action is an organization of policies and designed procedures aimed at assisting in the elimination of discrimination against women and other minorities in the human society, together with redressing the possibilities of past discrimination. As required by the Affirmative Action Plan's requirements, Affirmative Action was signed by President Johnson in 1965. It supported and revised by different presidents in the world. The intention of Affirmative Action is to have less or no discriminations in the various fields of living among the minority groups and women in the society of the U.S. And other nations that subdue to it. Nonetheless, Affirmative Action has attracted both positive and negative effects on the human society.
The initial intention of Affirmative Action was to bring sanity in the human society where equality and cohesive continuation exists in the society. According to President John F. Kennedy, Affirmative Action is as good as a society that…

Affirmative action is an initiative based on a set of policies that are intended to eradicate both present and past prejudice against women and minority in areas of employment and businesses where they were historically marginalized. Theses discriminations can also be based on ones race, religion, color or nation of origin (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2009).
rief History of affirmative action

Civil rights movements originally endorsed programs that would enable African-Americans acquire full citizenship of the United States; slavery was then illegalized and equal protection under the law was guaranteed and prejudice against voting rights was as well forbidden. The end of post civil war reconstruction era was marked in 1896 by the ruling of the Supreme Court over the Plessy v. Ferguson's decision to uphold anything that displayed equality for African-Americans. President Franklin D. Roosevelt then signed an executive order 8802 in 1941 in order to forbid certain policies that embraced…

Affirmative Action is an extremely important concept since it is vital to the operation of America as a democracy. It reinforces the affirmation of the Constitution that all people are born equal and should, therefore, be given an equal chance to prove themselves. Employment opportunity (and other factors) should be based on merit rather than on extraneous factors such as skin color, race, gender, physiology, and so forth.
The Federal egister states that "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin" (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11246.html) should not be considered when evaluating the candidate's chance for "areas of employment, education, and business" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/.).

The principles of affirmative action exist in almost all countries. Their policies vary but their fundamentals are, more or less, the same.

A. How Affirmative Action came to be

The term first came into effect with JF Kennedy in 1961 when he signed the Executive Order 10925. The order in effect stated that:

"[employers are]…

Affirmative Action Lit eview
Affirmative Action eview of Literature

Has Affirmative Action outlived its use in today's society? And if so should the program change or simply come to an end?

The issue of Affirmative Action (AA) is one that is currently being hotly debated by both policy makers and the public. Like racism itself there are many opinions all of which are run the gamut between logical and illogical and constructive and destructive. In general it is come to be an accepted premise that AA has outlived its usefulness, has a tendency to do damage to both the minority beneficiaries of it and the majority and should either be changed drastically in application or eliminate it altogether (Todd, Spanierman, & Poteat, 2011). In looking at this issue through the perspective of academic literature this researcher developed two general questions regarding AA; Has Affirmative Action outlived its use in today's society? And if…

Actually, state agencies and institutions of higher learning have continued to rely upon the Supreme Court decisions and federal legislation to enforce the policies of affirmative action since 1978. While there are no definitive answers on whether affirmative action policies and programs are necessary, scholars and civic leaders have been engaged in hot debates to determine the implications of measures to dismantle affirmative action policies and programs.
There are various reasons that prove that affirmative action policies and programs are not necessary in the 21st Century and should therefore be abolished. These reasons include & #8230;

Inability to Eliminate Discrimination:

Generally, affirmative action has been unable to wholly eliminate discrimination that is entrenched in the American government and society. While affirmative action was developed to help cure all discrimination in the United States, it is quite evident that this policy has been unable to accomplish its objective. If the affirmative action policies…

Many federal courts have held that community law enforcement agencies may adhere to the stipulations of the Equal Protection Clause if an organizational need validates the employer's intentional affirmative action labors. In the arena of higher education, the Supreme Court has held in Grutter v. Bollinger that having an assorted student body can often account for the consideration of race as an issue in precise admissions results at colleges and universities without infringing the Equal Protection Clause or Title VI of the Civil ights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court as of yet has not decided on whether an organizational need or diversity foundation can give reason for voluntary affirmative action efforts under Title VII (Section 15: ace & Color Discrimination, 2006).
Companies usually do not have quotas since there is really is no such thing in consideration of Affirmative Action. As an alternative, there are numeric goals which are…

367)
Accoding to Sande, none of these questions have been asked effectively and theefoe we as a nation continue to believe that affimative action is a necessay social development fo the ceation of a moe epesentative society, whee disenfanchisement must be answeed by active plans, policies and laws.

Few of us would enthusiastically suppot pefeential admission policies if we did not believe they played a poweful, ieplaceable ole in giving nonwhites in Ameica access to highe education, entee to the national elite, and a chance of coecting histoic undeepesentations in the leading pofessions. (Sande, 2004, p. 367)

Sande then goes on, supisingly to develop the fact that acial pefeence, at least in elite law school statistical analysis has not been an effective tool in the development of a moe epesentative and divese population among lawyes and in fact he contends that if it wee abolished minoity aces might actually fae bette.

When one…

..aims to compensate people for past discrimination and its effects. A main effect of past discrimination is current competitive disadvantage; affirmative action gives victims a competitive advantage to compensate for this injury." (1998) the Discrimination-blocking affirmative action according to Anderson: "...aims to block current discriminatory mechanisms by imposing a countervailing force in the opposite direction. It doesn't remove the factors -- prejudice, stereotypes, stigma, intergroup anxiety -- that cause discrimination; it just tries to block their discriminatory effects." (1998) Finally, Anderson states that the view of Integrative affirmative action has the aims of dismantling the "...current causes of race-based disadvantage -- segregation, stigmatization, discrimination -- by promoting racial integration. It thus aims for a future in which these causes no longer operate." (1998)
Anderson additionally states that arguments relating to 'diversity' supporting affirmative action "are a species of argument from social utility. The general idea is that group attributes can contribute…

Furthermore, it is also believed that the evolution of American society is at a point where all forms of discrimination can be done away with. Dworkin therefore appears to advocate a simple acceptance of all affirmative action programs in terms of their original intention; to redress the collectivist wrongs perpetrated against a collective sector of society, by another collective. In this, those belonging to the historically repressive collective should, in the spirit of future equality and social collectivism, accept these attempts in this light.
One argument that Dworkin mentions is that those, like Hopwood and Bakke, who are disadvantaged tend not to feel overly positive regarding the collectivist future advantage of the country as a result of what they see as reverse discrimination. This creates bitterness and resentment, as mentioned in Yates. uch bitterness and resentment are hardly conducive to future unity in the country. In response to this argument,…

Affirmative Action is the set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Affirmative action was set into place during the 1960's. Focusing in particular on education and jobs, affirmative action policies required that active measures be taken to ensure that blacks and other minorities enjoyed the same opportunities for promotions, salary increases, career advancement, school admissions, scholarships, and financial aid that had been the nearly exclusive province of whites. However, despite its good intentions, affirmative action has actually created more problems than it has solved, explaining why so many are now calling for an end to its policies. Affirmative action violates our United States Constitution, favors the middle and upper class, allows unqualified entry to universities and jobs, promotes racism and fosters further discrimination.
Affirmative action really is all about quotas rather than eliminating race as…

If affirmative action is permissible by law and sustainable by the Constitution, then it makes sense that universities would be allowed to continue their legacy admissions. The morality and ethics of legacy admissions is a different thing altogether.
Affirmative action remains necessary in a nation that only abolished Jim Crow laws five decades ago and which still suffers from one of the largest income disparities of any developed country. On the other hand, legacy admissions further entrench the financially and culturally elite in positions of power. In Liberalism Divided, Owen M. Fiss (1997) analyzes what he calls the "group disadvantaging principle," (p. 36). Fiss (1997) posits the group disadvantaging principle as the principle underlying affirmative action. The principle acknowledges the link between race and class. The group disadvantaging principle "seeks to end social subordination" by proactively uprooting all forms of social inequality and discrimination (Fiss 1997, p. 36). It is…

Criticism of Affirmative Action

Over the years, specific criticisms of Affirmative Action have developed as a result of the endless debate and legal wrangling over the issue, as well as the division in American society about the topic. The first criticism of Affirmative Action to consider is the assertion that the burden of compensating victims of discrimination usually becomes the responsibility of those who are not individually responsible for the discrimination itself. For example, in the case of employment, promotion and educational opportunities, white males are usually the ones who pay the consequences of discrimination violations even if they did not cause it. While the argument is made that this is just because the white males receive the most benefit from discrimination against others, the same argument can be made that the price that white males pay for these extra opportunities exceed what they ever receive in return, making them the…

This agency reviews affirmative action programs and addresses complaints, violations or issues with non-compliance (Skrentny, 2001).
The nondiscrimination section of the executive order applies to all contractors and subcontractors with federal contracts over $10,000 in any one year. The Executive Order also requires that any non-construction contractor with federal contracts over $50,000 and over fifty employees must establish a written affirmative action plan within 120 days of initiation of the contract (Carrington, McCue, Brooks, 2000).

Federal regulations specify that this written plan must include a detailed analysis of the employer's workforce by race, ethnicity, and sex as well as an analysis of any underrepresentation of particular groups (Skrentny, 2001). If an underutilization is found, the employer is charged with determining if the representation of particular groups is lower in their workplace than in the geographic area and if so they will need to develop an affirmative action plan with targeted goals…

Affirmative Action Case
Fisher v. Texas

Summarize the case's key arguments

Fisher v. Texas is about two white students who were denied admission to the University of Texas in 2008. They felt discriminated against based upon the fact that the school overly relied on race to determine who will be admitted. Both students sued the university. They allege that race is giving unqualified candidates an advantage over applicants (based upon ethnicity). As they felt that there were more neutral indicators. That could be utilized to determining the best applicants. ("Fisher v. Texas," 2013) (Wermeil, 2011)

At the heart of their argument, was the fact that this policy violated the Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment. It also went in direct conflict with Texas House Bill 588. It states, that the University of Texas will accept anyone who is in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. This is regardless of the…

Affimative Action
The Ameican Civil Wa ended an Afican holocaust that had lasted almost thee centuies, devastating geneations of human beings. It took most of the next centuy fo decedents of the Aficans enslaved in the Ameican States to enjoy any of the actual feedoms and ights that wee supposed to have been guaanteed to them afte 1865. In many espects, contempoay Ameican cultue still featues esidual consequences of Slavey in the eveyday lives of black Ameicans.

Affimative Action developed unde the Civil Rights movement initiated by the Kennedy Administation in the 1960's. Foty yeas late, the U.S. Supeme Cout is still heaing aguments epesenting two diametically opposite views of Affimative Action, in pinciple, most ecently, on June 23, 2003, when it econsideed the issue in elation to its landmak uling of 1978. (1,2)

The spectum of political opinion on the issue stetches vey wide indeed:

On one hand, thee is the belief that…

Affirmative action programs have helped countless numbers of minorities achieve positions of power. Because racial and gender prejudices have prevented people of color and women from being promoted, being hired, or being accepted to certain academic institutions, affirmative action programs are necessary to enforce equal opportunity laws. While some people might contend that affirmative action constitutes "reverse racism," I feel that prejudices are often unconscious and deeply rooted. Therefore, affirmative action is necessary to ensure an even playing field for all persons, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or gender.
In my personal experience, affirmative action has made college campuses more diverse and therefore more representative of the world as a whole. I would not want to go to school or work in a homogenous environment, especially since American culture is heterogeneous. I have witnessed affirmative action work, because I know that many minorities that are in positions of power at school…

Affirmative action simply paints a broader picture of the person being considered and helps overcome implicit selection bias or favoritism for groups that are more 'like us.' Although we might like to think so, in the words of President Clinton: "The job of ending discrimination in this country is not done" (Harris 1995)
Affirmative action works by setting flexible goals for the organization, and these goals "are based on the percentage of qualified minorities and women in the region" (Kangas, 2006). A company that searches in good faith but fails to find qualified minorities or women is not penalized for their failure, and unlike in a quota system, a "company incurs no legal penalty if it makes a good-faith search but still cannot meet its goals. Affirmative action allows an employee's contribution to the diversity of the company to be a factor in recruiting and hiring decisions" but it is…

The continued subordination of blacks in the work place is due to persistent discrimination at all stages of the employment process, from recruitment to interview, job offer, and promotion. Studies conducted in the 1990's by the Urban Institute in Chicago, show significant levels of discrimination in the labor market against black and Hispanic job applicants. The discrimination that previous generations of blacks experienced in the labor market also harms modern blacks' employment prospects today.
n important aspect of the labor market disadvantage suffered by frican-mericans is their high unemployment rate. Unemployment rates for frican-mericans are twice as high as those are for whites. The problem is particularly bad for eighteen- to nineteen-year-old blacks, which suffer unemployment rates above 30%. In a study conducted by the Urban Institute of Chicago, researchers found that young white men were offered jobs 45% more often than the young black men were. This result reveals…

Disney next shifted its focus on middle and senior management, creating a phase called Integration of Values to Action, which stressed the need for ensuring training of managers on how their actions directly impact AA in the workplace. This included role-playing and illustrating how a manager's role has direct implications on how biases in the workplace are created and supported. The EEOC audits showed a wide variation in the awareness of managers in terms of their ability to nurture and promote AA, or through negligence or a lack of perception, condone it. The last phase of the Disney Diversity Initiative is Leveraging Diversity in the Workplace. This is the capstone segment of the program and illustrates why it is so critical for every company to integrate AA strategies into their core business models, mission and value statements.
Summary

Contrasting its branding and company image, The Disney Company struggles with Affirmative Action…

The Court sets that time period at 25 years, and seems to do so based on the fact that this case arose 25 years after the Court first authorized the use of race as a criterion for admissions. Looking at the changes that have occurred in the past 25 years, the Court believes that the United States may see sufficient changes in the next 25 years to erase the vestiges of slavery and racism.
It is important to realize that the University of Michigan's consideration of race in the admissions process was not to correct for past discrimination, but to provide a diverse student body. Therefore, it believed that it achieved a critical mass of minority students when its number of students was sufficient to prevent isolation of a minority student, to educate the entire student-body about minority issues, and to challenge stereotypes. Because the Court did not adopt the…

In addition to changes in admission policies at universities, new workshops in education are beginning to address this issue head on, with teaching participants being taught that American history and education are both "written from the perspective of whites and that laws and policies benefit whites while putting minorities at an immediate disadvantage." (Fernandez, 1) This has helped to redirect the perspective on Affirmative Action within the profession, where institutions are beginning to espouse it as a legitimate means to balancing merit and racial fairness in both the admission of students and the courtship and hiring of teachers. A recent Supreme Court decision on student admission to the University of Michigan reflected this stance, offering real and applicable precedent that today reverberates in the collective movement to improve conditions for an ethnically diverse range of Americans.
In 2000, Gratz v Bollinger began the long process of defending the Constitutionality of…

Affirmative Action
At its most objective definition, affirmative action entails "positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded." Affirmative action acknowledges the presence of institutionalized and systematic forms of discrimination: which may not be apparent to members of the dominant or privileged culture. For example, white males will not even notice that no Blacks serve on the boards of directors in companies he works for. Affirmative action is a policy that seeks to correct institutionalized and systematic discrimination by seeing to it that diversity is both a means and an end. To deny the validity of affirmative action would be to deny that racism or sexism still exist. Given that human beings exhibit poor judgement based on their background, upbringing, and psychological biases, and given the presence of institutionalized discrimination, affirmative action remains an…

Affimative Action: Why We Need to Refom It
It is widely believed that the Ameican society is a "melting pot" whee membes of acial, ethnic, eligious, and sexual minoities eventually mold into the mainsteam, becoming full-fledged citizens of the county. The eality, howeve, is much moe complicated. While it is tue that Ameica offes many oppotunities to all its citizens, thee is a histoy of discimination against minoity goups that affects the Ameican society even today. Afican-Ameicans wee confined to the shackles of slavey fo thee hunded yeas and fo anothe hunded yeas of institutionalized discimination, while othe minoity goups and women had to stuggle had to win civil ights and make the Ameican society moe egalitaian. The Ameican society has pogessed to the point whee most citizens believe that eveyone should be entitled to equal ights egadless of one's ace, colo, gende, ethnicity, o eligion. And it is because of…

Perhaps it's time that politics follows suit. Without denying that we are indeed diverse, it is necessary to recognize that we are all human beings. Diversity makes us human, but discrimination violates the potential bonds of friendship within the societies in the United tates. Politicians and federal officials might do well to revisit the meaning of the constitution and of the very name of the country: we are United, diverse, unique, and deserve opportunities on the same level as everybody else. Only then can we be truly equal.

ources

Andre, Claire, Velasquez, Manuel & Mazur, Tim. "Affirmative Action: Twenty-five Years of Controversy." Issues in Ethics, v. 5, n. 2, ummer 1992. http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n2/affirmative.html

Brunner, Borgna. "Bakke and Beyond: A History and Timeline of Affirmative Action." Pearson Education, 2000-2005. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/affirmative1.html

Fullinwider, Robert. "Affirmative Action." tanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/

chulman, Miriam. "Affirmative Action or Negative Action." Issues in Ethics, v. 7 n. 3, Fall 1996. http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v7n3/affirmative.html

Wilcher,…

Affirmative Action
Ever since the upheavals of the 1960s precipitated a fundamental change in the way the United States regards civil rights, the notion of affirmative action has been regularly discussed and misunderstood throughout the national discourse. Requirements that certain employers enact affirmative action plans began with an executive order on the heels of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII of which specifies that employers may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The executive order requiring that certain employers take affirmative action has subsequently been misunderstood to mean something other than it really does, because this order is nonetheless constrained by Title VII. By examining precisely which employers must maintain affirmative action plans and what those plans require them to do, one may understand the extent and limitations of affirmative action and how it relates to Title VII.

Before considering affirmative action plans…

Affirmative Action has been an issue of great debate and controversy since its establishment. Because of the very fact that such legislation was deemed needed is indicative of the mass inequality existing in a country that was formed on the basis of the individual liberties and justice. Affirmative Action is a legal and social response to help eliminate the historical and social inequities of minorities and women and America. The deployment of a social progress regime enforced by law reminds us as a society, how grossly impaired we are in upholding and actualizing the virtue that "all men (and women) are created equal." Critics of Affirmative Action are many; dismantling Affirmative Action is of continued debate. This paper will discuss why some criticize Affirmative Action and well as an advantage and a disadvantage of eliminating the legislation.
Criticisms of Affirmative Action

The largest and most frequent criticism of Affirmative Action is that…

Affirmative Action
In order to evaluate whether Fairview County Public Library's affirmative action plan is valid, identifying the basis for its implementation is necessary. Affirmative mainly serves to redress the injustices caused by a society's historical discrimination against people of color, women and other minority groups by leveling the uneven playing ground (Maltz, 2005). Through affirmative action, institutions and organizations attempt to foster diversity in a liberal and democratic society. This is exhibited by prestigious institutions of higher learning. Admission policies on affirmative action have been effective in aligning the balance of opportunity and power whilst ensuring that formerly excluded societal groups are currently included in the system (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2009).

Evidently, the affirmative action plan will be valid when it creates a level playing field for a minority group biased in the current system. It is important to clarify why three of thirty supervisors in the library branches are male,…

Affirmative action refers to the initiative of the government that gives special preference to minority groups and women in order to effectively tackle the problem of under-representation of these disadvantaged groups. Over the years, however, despite this action being both legal and moral in nature, this initiative has sparked intense controversy and has been the subject of passionate debates in academic and political circles. In the article under consideration, the author draws our attention to the various arguments raised in favor of and against affirmative action over the past forty years. The best thing about the article is author's completely unbiased and objective attitude towards the issue and his ability to draw conclusions after reasonably impartial analysis of facts, figures and arguments. The article brings forth various different legal and philosophical theories in connection with affirmative action to show how the issue became controversial and highly contentious. The article focuses…

Affirmative Action in Hiring and Firing in the Ad Industry and/or Ad Firms
Advertising in the United States means a lot of money and as much as $2.1 million is spent on each advertisement during the Super Bowl advertisements lasting for 30 seconds. There is now a question as to whether the composition of workers within the industry, both in the creative sections and in the non-creative sections will affect the effectiveness of the advertising they create. It is true that today there are a lot more of black people being shown on the national television commercials. Whether they are being shown in suitable roles or not can be disputed, but they are certainly present in greater numbers. Today there are many commercials with black people on an increasing number of stations than at any previous time in history. There are of course not enough people being shown with other racial…

(African-American Policy Forum, 2009) Asian-Americans are also benefitting from affirmative action programs and for example it is related that the "...(a) the Small usiness Administration's Section 8(a) program has greatly benefited Asian-American-owned businesses. The Wall Street Journal estimates that affirmative action helped Asian-American-owned businesses more than double their share of contracts in a ten-year period, going from 10.5% of contracts in 1986 to 23.7% of contracts in 1996." (African-American Policy Forum, 2009) Asian Pacific Americans are particularly aided by affirmative action in trades such as law enforcement, firefighting and contracting. enefits to Latino-Americans include race-conscious admission and recruiting strategies at universities to encourage Latino enrolment in schools. In addition, "Publicly funded English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) programs for Latino students help both the Latino community" and the community at large. (African-American Policy Forum, 2009) it is additionally stated that "Native Americans also benefit tremendously from affirmative action programs" in that "Affirmative…

S. Army is recruited from minority groups and they undergo rigorous training to match high standards. (ushefsky, 2002) Further various universities in the United States have adopted the requirements of the Supreme Court to provide reservation to racially discriminated students. This is also a step towards diversity in educational institutions. (Hamilton, 2001) the method followed by University of California is a good reference for providing preference to minority groups. The University recruits minority faculty and scholarships are arranged for high achieving deprived students from minority groups. However this requirement-based program has been criticized by the opponents of affirmative action that it involves cost to the University and thus restricts the number of eligible candidates. (ushefsky, 2002)
Further the institution of affirmative action in the United States has been adopted by various private companies to bring about a transformation in the society. Multinational companies take up policies that favor diversity in employment.…

It seeks to enhance group diversity and individualism in the workplace and in educational institutions. The emphasis is shifted. Instead meeting compulsory affirmative action principles and strategies, the full spectrum diversity approach focuses on creative ways to achieve more diversity.
Instead of being driven by something external (as Affirmative Action was by the government), the new system uses internally-based incentives to accomplish full spectrum diversity. Companies that are committed to full spectrum diversity change their organizational structure in order to encourage minority success. They try to eliminate the weaknesses in affirmative action practices and to view diversity, not as an unpleasant requirement the company must comply with minimally (the "token" black receptionist, for example), but as an asset to business that should be enhanced and developed for the benefit of all. Programs, policies, orientation, and corporate culture all reflect this change in attitude and approach.

With this ruling the Court upheld legality of affirmative action. In considering the reasoning behind the Court's upholding of the highly debated principle, the rationale was that to remedy past discrimination, a program that is race-based must be put into effect. Clearly, the Court was concerned with becoming intertwined in the daily administration of academic programs, and the same would have likely held true for the workplace.

The Bakke case had two primary effects in the workplace. It gave the employers the power to enact programs that it felt were necessary in order to promote diversity in the workplace without the risk of being sued for discrimination or having their program being declared invalid by the courts. One interesting observation regarding the history of affirmative action programs in the workplace was that the traditionally government enforced programs and were not applicable against private employers under the U.S. Constitution and the Civil…

Affirmative action policies grew out of a need to address the historic discrimination against minorities and women. Since its inception, affirmative action has helped open the door for many minorities seeking gainful employment and higher education. However, the same policies have also spawned charges of reverse discrimination against others and, paradoxically, of harming the very people they were intended to help.
This paper looks at whether affirmative action policies remain relevant today, with a particular focus on racial minorities such as African-Americans and Latinos. In the first part, the paper defines affirmative action, traces the policies' history and examines their goals. The second part is a critical examination of the arguments of affirmative action supporters. The third part studies the arguments against affirmative action by evaluating both the policies' effectiveness and their deleterious consequences for African-Americans and other racial minorities.

In the conclusion, this paper maintains that though they were instituted with…

Affirmative Action and Elitist Theory
The last half of the 1900's saw a major change in society where people became more interconnected than ever before. Women entered the workforce and began to take on similar roles to men. This has continued up to the present time where the change is still continuing. People of different cultures also became more interconnected than ever before. Cultural barriers broke down and all cultures began to mix and began to be seen more equally. This may be a continuing trend, but equality is far from a reality. Women and men are still seen as different and still continue to be viewed differently in the workplace. Different cultures are also viewed differently. While on the surface, society may call for equality, on a realistic level, there is no doubt that people are still separated based on their differences.

It must also be noted that this is not…

Moreover, the Court stated that affirmative action could not become a permanent policy and suggested that sometime in the future, when affirmative action would no longer be necessary to promote diversity, it would no longer be permissible for universities to employ affirmative action in their admissions process (See generally, Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003)). Given the incredible advancements in the struggle for equality over the past half-century, it is conceivable that the Supreme Court is right, and that affirmative action will no longer be necessary in another quarter of a century.

Getting a job

One of the more pervasive myths about affirmative action in employment decisions is that if equally-qualified white and black people are applying for a job, the black person is more likely to get the job. That is simply and patently, untrue. First, it is impossible to have to identically-qualified applicants, which makes it an interesting argument…

Affirmative Action
The term 'affirmative action' collectively refers to the positive steps that have been taken to increase the representation of minority groups in business, employment, and college admissions by according them preferential treatment in a bid to make up for the injustices committed against them in the past (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001). Its contestation, defense, and development often proceeds along two paths -- administrative and legal (in the form of executive orders or court rulings requiring organizations to practice affirmative action) and public debate (in the form of literature showing the pros and cons of such preferential treatment). A notable case of the former was witnessed a few years back, when the Supreme Court ruled against three white students from the University of Michigan who had challenged the university's selection policy, which gave students from minority groups higher points, on grounds that it encouraged race-based discrimination (Messerli, 2012). The…

Affirmative Action in Procurement/Contracting
Affirmative action programs in procurement are amongst the more significant government programs proposed to progress self-employment prospects for minorities as well as women. In essence, the policy on affirmative action with regard to procurement or contracting necessitates that business concerns owned by women or the minorities, shall have the utmost gaining prospect to take part as supplies for goods and services. This also takes into account construction, irrespective of whether bought with a grant, contract or organizational funds. In accordance to Marion (2011), statistics indicate that in the year 2002, about 7% of federal procurement funds were granted to underprivileged enterprises and initiatives, through the Small Business Administration (SBA). In addition, it is a prevalent feature for numerous national and local government agencies to offer preferential treatment to organizations that are minorities (Marion, 2011). In recent periods, the decisions made by the law courts and the different…

Hence, it is important for the proper application of the AA idea that those who make the anti-discrimination and AA policies understand both sides of the story and both the discriminator's and the victim's perspectives. So, in essence those groups of people who disagree on certain ideas or approaches towards justice must try to adopt an unbiased approach to understanding the reason behind the existence of the differences and resolve them through negotiation. This particular approach will allow the phenomenon of AA to be ethically acceptable in the long run (Katznelson, 2006).
There are many researchers who also support the use of the distributive format of justice for maintaining equality instead of the compensatory format of justice. This is so because many of these researchers believe that compensatory justice does not have an impact on the discriminatory act instead it mainly compensates ad tries to make up for the harm…

One of the arguments that all the writers make is that despite the issue of merit, some employers are inherently racist. This may be true in that people always have an internal bias in them, about different things. ut what becomes the best corrector against race-based hiring is that not having the best employees for a job will cut into profit margins and cause employers to gladly hire African-Americans if they are most qualified for a position. The alternative is to go out of business. What the authors also do not realize is that the market forces are the best forces to ensure equity and employment and not outside artificial interference. The next paragraph will show this.

One of the difficulties in arguing against affirmative action is that any such analysis comes across as racist. ut one of the best examples of why affirmative action should be eschewed is professional sports…

There are still others that feel that affirmative action programs are still not doing enough, which is easy to argue given that women and minorities are still not equally represented in the highest ranks of a majority of organizations across several different industries.
What can companies due to improve the situation? It is vital that organizations do everything possible to maintain a strong and solid image in the eyes of consumers. When organizations fail to recognize discriminatory practices, they may cause consumers to adopt a negative view of organizational practices.

In addition organizations must work to ensure that any affirmative action programs that are currently in place are organized in a manner that does not promote 'reverse discrimination.' Managers must work directly with staff to help educate staff members regarding the need for equal opportunity measures, and help assuage any fears employees or managers may have regarding affirmative action.

There are many…

Affirmative action is the general term used to describe the de facto and de jure social policies that attempt to eliminate or alleviate the challenges that racial minorities have faced in the United States over nearly the entire history of the nation. Acts of discrimination became a particularly extreme social problem after the U.S. Civil war and during the early years of the reformation, when the nation and its people were attempting to reconcile old hatreds and beliefs of inequality with laws that did not reflect their unfortunately harsh discriminatory opinions.
Affirmative action as it is seen today is the results of such struggles, as the civil rights movement. It is in practice the recognition of race as a determining factor for the ability of some to be accepted to colleges and universities, which have previously been attended mostly by the racial majority, and/or receiving preferential treatment in hiring, especially where…

Affirmative action is also meant to be a temporary remedy, but knowing when and how to eliminate affirmative action programs will be difficult.
Proponents of affirmative action argue that the practice is an effective way of eliminating bias in the admissions process and of ensuring that more minorities and females are granted opportunities for upward social mobility and for holding positions of power. Without a doubt minorities and women have been passed over due to overt or unconscious biases. A disproportionate number of white males hold positions of power in many institutions. Furthermore, diversity is necessary to bolster the democratic process in a country as heterogeneous as the United States. Affirmative action may be the only method to create diverse populations in all social, political, and educational institutions and places of business. Until discrimination has been wholly removed from the public consciousness, affirmative action is necessary and should be used…

Affirmative Action Plan It is a fact that there has been discrimination in employment, where minorities, women, veterans and the disabled are sidelined in favor of the rest of the population. This ought to be provided with equitable access to employment opportunities and this is exactly what affirmative action plan does. By statistical analyses of the demographics, affirmative action programs are able to do away with the negative effects of employment discrimination, in an inclusive manner and without regard to gender, race and disabilities (HRUnlimited, 2018)
Affirmative action is a major concern for many employees. The laws of affirmative action affect all federal government workers, as well as private medium sized to large scale enterprises. Students in institutions of higher education (averaging about 16 million in the U.S.) are also affected by affirmative action laws. Citizens are normally left debating whether affirmative action policies are fair. The US openly claims how fair…

Affirmative Action: Doing More Harm Than Good Today
There was a time in America's not-too-distant past when affirmative action programs were necessary to address the inequalities in access to education and employment that were institutionalized throughout the country. Today, though, the civil rights movement is over and the Fourteenth Amendment ensures that all U.S. citizens enjoy the full range of protections under the law, including the Bill of ights. Indeed, some affirmative action programs today are denying access to otherwise-qualified candidates for the very same reason these social reform programs were implemented in the first place: the color of their white skin. According to Black's Law Dictionary (1990), affirmative action programs are "required by federal statutes and regulations designed to remedy discriminatory practices; i.e., positive steps designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedy lingering effects of past discrimination and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination" (p.…

Affirmative action plans are not the same as diversity plans. These differ in several ways, with the most notable being that affirmative action is a law, and diversity plans are simply created by companies wanting to incorporate various levels and types of diversity into their organizations (Anderson, 2004). In other words, employers must follow affirmative action requirements, but they do not have any requirement to have a diversity plan. This is an important distinction, because many employers mistakenly believe that they can create their own diversity plan, and that will meet the affirmative action requirements if they are ever questioned about the issue (iccucci, 2002). This is not the case, though, and can land employers in some serious trouble if they mistakenly believe that they are doing enough to bring diversity into their workplace. By ignoring the actual law in favor of their own diversity plan, they are putting their…

Those who support affirmative action generally advocate it either as a means to address past discrimination or to enhance racial, ethnic, gender, or other diversity. They argue that the end result -- greater diversification -- justifies the means and that this want happen if simply left to chance. However, preferential hiring as compensation for past discrimination is ridiculous "since it benefits individuals (blacks and women possessing good educational credentials) least likely harmed by past wrongs while it burdens individuals (younger white male applicants) least likely to be responsible for past wrongs." Affirmative action does nothing to identify those who are truly in need such as those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. There's no reason why an affluent black person should be given special consideration over a poor white candidate who has most likely confronted far more roadblocks in pursuing an education and a good career. The notion that businesses can't obtain…

Affirmative Action
Cornel est. It book "The Conscious Reader" By Caroline

Affirmative Action has been a highly controversial topic in the United States ever since it initially emerged out of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. This issue is explored in depth in Cornell est's essay, "On Affirmative Action," which was initially published in George Currey's The Affirmative Action Debate in 1996. The principle reason why affirmative action has been so widely debated within the U.S. is that there are many within this country who believe that ultimately, this piece of legislation helped to remove qualified candidates for critical jobs and enrollment positions in institutions of higher learning in favor of under qualified minorities. est's article analyzes the various pros and cons of this issue from both sides -- those who are in favor of it and those who have traditionally opposed it. A thorough analysis of this piece of…

Affirmative action refers to the positive steps such as policies, rules, and regulations which take represent minority groups in the work place with the final benefit of making them represented in the workplace to counter the effects of discrimination. Some of the discrimination factors that against which affirmative action are instituted are race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, color, and national origin Pynes, 2008()
Position on affirmative action

Affirmative action helps to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. It helps to end unfair treatment of employees or students based on their characteristics such as race, color, etc. This helps to create an equal employment opportunity environment for the workers since there will be no stereotyping and they will all be given an equal chance of succeeding at what they do. Also, affirmative action ensures that the minority groups are represented in the workplace Beauchamp, 1998()

However, on this line, affirmative action has also been…

It has been reported that due to the economic disparity the available opportunities have been inaccessible for the minority groups, and therefore such initiatives are important to be formulated which facilitate the minority groups in their quest to reach the mark. Affirmative Action is incorporated once the society has failed to materialize the society value equality and fairness. Affirmative Action are installed only to regret the failure on the behalf of the state to ensure equality and justice to the people irrespective of the racial, sexual, ethnic and religious divisions, therefore the Affirmative Action has diluted the heavily concentrated ethnic and racial vigor, and has subdue the negative fallout of such practices. Affirmative Action has brought ultimate relief to those particular elements of the society which were previously ignored, and whose existence was previously deplored in the society. The American society has although benefit from the implementation of the…

Unfortunately, at least according to the literature researched here, these are neither sufficiently addressed nor remedied, in most cases, by affirmative action alone at the post-secondary level.
orks Cited

Bowen, illiam G., and Bok, Derrick. The Shape of the River: Long-term

Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions.

Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Comer, J. And Poussaint, Alvin. Black Child Care. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975.

Constitution of the United States. Microsoft Encyclopedia Encarta, 1-32.

Retrieved August 8, 2005, from Microsoft orks Suite 2000 (CD-ROM), Disc

Dred Scott Case. Microsoft Encyclopedia Encarta, 1-3. Retrieved August

8, 2005 from Microsoft orks Suite 2000 (CD-ROM), Disc 3.

Eaton, James. Strengthening Collegiate Education in Community Colleges. San Jose, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1994.

Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities. New York: Crown, 1993. 4.

McCormick, R.L. "Advancing Diversity in a Post-Affirmative Action State:

Implications for the Future." Paper presented to the Association of American

Colleges and Universities, 20 January 2000. Retrieved August 10, 2005, from:…

Affimative Action is No Longe Useful
Affimative action once had a place in Ameican society. It povided a jump-stat of sots to minoities and women in the wok place who had no suppot infastuctue to speak of in place pio to its inception. But, now, afte seveal decades of acial and gende quotas, Ameican businesses and colleges ae discoveing that Affimative Action is no longe seving the pupose it once was. It is the pupose of this pape to demonstate that affimative action is an outmoded fom of legalized discimination and that it is haming the Ameican wokfoce athe than helping it.

Poponents of affimative action claim that it continues to be elevant because of the still-emaining undecuent of acism and sexism at the coe of copoate Ameica. Thei claim is that thee ae thousands of examples of people of colo, white women, who had been as a goup excluded fom…

affirmative action is still an important factor in the sociopolitical makeup of the United States. This policy has radically changed employment and school admission policies around the county. To eliminate affirmative action at this point in time would have an adverse affect on women and minorities across the country.
Affirmative action works. A study done by the U.S. Labor Department indicates that affirmative action has been responsible for a positive move in the workforce for five million minorities and six million white women.

As the preceding paragraph states, progress has been made. However, women still make seventy-six cents for every male dollar earned and African-Americans continue to have twice the unemployment rate of white people.

One of the primary myths about affirmative action is that it has a negative effect on the white workforce. This is not true. In Ten Myths about Affirmative Action, Scott Plous writes, "according to the U.S. Commerce…

4.1. Describe how diversity of workers has been impacting organizations, including organizations for which you have worked recently.

The diversity of the workers has been impacting organizations on multiple levels. For instance, it has forced them to become more attentive in order to avoid any accusations of discrimination; in other words, it has forced them to become even more focused on performance, rather than other criteria, such as gender, race, ethnicity, religious appurtenance, sexual orientation and so on. Also, the growing workforce diversity has generated an increased awareness of relationships and authority within the work climate (Skaggs and DiTomaso).

Then, aside from these, the increase of workforce diversity has generated an increased organizational capability of adapting to change; it has improved communications and has allowed the employees to become more flexible and understand and accept the cultural differences (Jensen, 2011).

4.2. For many individuals, the nature of work and jobs is changing. Describe…

Those favoring it argue it is unfair to have the same requirements for select minorities as for others. Those opposed believe it's unfair that the more qualified candidate loses an opportunity to a less qualified member of a preferred group.
Their logic is simple: discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color or sex is wrong. This position has made some progress, winning several significant court battles. it's been so successful that affirmative action proponents have abandoned their traditional line of reasoning that it makes up for past discrimination. Diversity is now a goal in its own right, but only of racial or ethnic group.

There are many arguments to be made against assuming that an individual's racial or ethnic group is the definitive characteristic for them; however, there is a stronger reason to oppose this diversity argument than its assumption that race makes character.

There is little difference in intellectual potential…

Alamo of affirmative action, the University of Michigan. The contradictory stances of Bush and Powell on this issue are dealt with. So is the position of Gerald Ford who believes like the proponents of affirmative action that affirmative action procedures lead to diversity at the educational institutions and opportunities for the minorities that are seen as a must to be offered.
Affirmative Action in Michigan

Diversity and Achievement

Is affirmative action the victim of its own success? That is one conclusion to be drawn from Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, two cases challenging affirmative-action policies at the University of Michigan. Affirmative action has always counterposed two basic aspects of the American notion of equal opportunity. Opponents argue that taking race or gender into account in hiring or university admissions is discrimination pure and simple. Proponents counter that taking such characteristics into account redresses a legacy of discrimination; in effect, affirmative-action…

In the speech that Canon, Colman & Mayer reprint; "You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry dogs sinking their teeth into six unarmed, non-violent Negroes, I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes her in the City Jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham Police Department." (140) the message her is clear…

Affirmative Action?
Just about everyone has heard of affirmative action these days, but just what is it, really? Is it something only minorities really benefit from? Is it really as controversial as some people seem to think? Affirmative action is a term people use, but what it really means can be very misleading.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines affirmative action as "positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded" ("Affirmative Action"). "Positive steps" can mean many things, but here, they are meant to mean that women and minorities should enjoy the same rights and opportunities that anyone else in this country enjoys. It sounds simple, and it was meant to be simple, but the entire idea of affirmative action has become very controversial.

Affirmative action was not a widely used term until the Civil…

Affirmative Action
Possible Disadvantages

As previously seen, it is clear Affirmative Advantage is not entirely beneficial to all. Although it promotes greater diversity in the workplace, which is essentially a prime solution for combating ongoing prejudice, it also promotes reverse discrimination. Thus, there are some clear disadvantages the solution presents in regards to its attempt to resolve a lack of diversity within the work and academic environments. Along with the notions of reverse discrimination and mismatching, Affirmative Action also creates a situation where race and gender is unintentionally still being a part of the hiring process. It is crucial for modern firms to use Affirmative Action within a blended and holistic approach to hiring; it should help promote diversity, while not being a rigid system of quotas that diminishes the power of merit within the workplace.

In a world-based entirely on equality, race and gender would not even go into a hiring…