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Affirmative Action Affirmative Action are the policies used in the United States to increase opportunities for minorities by favoring them in hiring and promotion, college admissions, and the awarding of government contracts. Depending upon the situation, minorities might include any underrepresented group, especially one defined by race, ethnicity, or gender. Generally, governments, businesses, or educational institutions have undertaken affirmative action to remedy the effects of past discrimination against a group (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). Affirmative action is controversial, however, because many people believe it encourages preferential treatment of certain groups and encourages so-called reverse discrimination (Raskin). Ward Connerly, the University of California regent and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, believes that the affirmative action was originally meant to be temporary. Connerly argues that the action was supposed to be a stronger dose of equal opportunity for individuals.
In his opinion, the affirmative action should have expired when the society completely got rid of the prejudice and discrimination. It was not meant to be what it turned out to be - a system of preferences that harms the innocent people. Connerly is confident that the rationale for affirmative action thirty years ago was a moral one (Connerly). Four decades later, the affirmative action has turned into a firmly entrenched matter of public policy. Political and economic forces are ready to defend the policy by any means. The issue of discrimination is no longer the issue of morality, but of racial self-interests.
Affirmative action originally enjoyed the support of a majority of Americans. Many people still support this concept, as long as it does not involve preferences (Connerly). When the affirmative action concept was originally adopted, Americas racial landscape was very clear. The white majority dominated in all areas of social life, and the black minority was completely oppressed. Today, there are several dozens of racial and ethnic categories. There is no dominant majority and there is no oppressed minority.
The racial tensions are no longer just between black and white. They are black and Korean, black and Hispanic, white and Hispanic, Russian and Hispanic. Under such conditions, it is neither right nor fair to receive a preference for the so-called minority groups, since it looks like the real minority are the white people. Yet affirmative action operates as if the old order was still in place, as if the racial dilemma was still black against white (Murrell & Jones). According to an analysis of data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS 88), overall, 77 percent of 12 th-graders who applied to the nations most competitive and highly competitive colleges and universities, as defined by Barrons Profile of American Colleges, were accepted for admission.
After controlling for other factors related to the probability of being admitted, African Americans were about 14 percent more likely than other applicants to be accepted for admission into the nations 120 most selective colleges and universities (Friedl). In terms of specific institutions, the number of African-American and Hispanic undergraduates enrolled between 1980 and 1997 increased, respectively, by 24 and 117 percent at Harvard University, by 68 and 237 percent at the University of California-Berkeley, and by 50 and 74 percent at the University of Texas at Austin (Friedl). In order for the affirmative action to function as it was originally intended to, the American society needs to reaffirm the equality of all peoples in a culturally pluralist society and to posit a universal politics of freedom and equality (Raskin). However, a vigorous defense of affirmative action right now is central to such a politics.
The society seems to have forgotten the lines between the race and gender, and class and power. Idea of affirmative action for minorities and women has turned into an affront to the structure of domination and inequality. The job of the future generations is to make affirmative action an instrument, that would assist all citizens have a right to equal participation in the fruits of the rich American social life. Works cited: Connerly, Ward. With Liberty and Justice For All, Heritage Lecture Series, no. 560, 1996. Friedl, John.
A Climb Made Quicker: Affirmative Action and Enrollment Gains, Held ref Publications, 1998. Murrell, A. J. , & Jones, R. Assessing Affirmative Action: Past, present and future. Journal of Social Issues, 52 (4), 1996 Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation, 2002 Raskin, Jamin B.
Affirmative Action and Racial Reaction, Z Magazine, 1995.
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