In discussing the broader issue of racism, Hugh LaFollette discusses the more specific issue of affirmative action in his text The Practice of Ethics. Affirmative action, in brief, is the practice of giving special consideration to minorities and women, generally with regards to hiring processes and admission to colleges and universities. Although some programs were considered by the US Supreme Court as legally permissible in 2003, many Americans reject the practice (LaFollette, 2007). Interestingly enough, a 2014 Supreme Court decision upheld a Michigan constitutional amendment that prohibited the use of affirmative action at the state's public universities and colleges (Liptak, 2014).
Whether or not affirmative action is ethical, however, depends on one's viewpoint. There are certainly those who would be inclined to run with the argument that it is needed. LaFollette, for this half of the argument, poses the arguments of mitigating veiled or indirect racism, or ensuring equality of opportunity (LaFollette, 2007). Santa Clara University, in a comprehensive piece on affirmative action from their applied ethics center, writes that those favoring such programs appeal to distributive and compensatory justice, further asserting that whereas discrimination in the past was done out of ignorance or malice, preferential treatment programs have the aims of creating equal opportunity, and promoting equality. Further, they wrote that some arguable benefits include creating a cadre of professionals more responsive to needs of minorities, as well as cultivating benefits from the diversity of perspectives in the workplace and academia (Andre et al, n.d.)
As noted though, there are arguments against affirmative action. For discussion purposes, LaFollette presents several issues including perceptions of reverse discrimination in promoting others simply on account of race, doing harm to those that have done no wrong, potentially bringing up those who aren't necessarily the most qualified, and possibly even bringing further stigma upon minorities (LaFollette, 2007). The Santa Clara write up adds in that preferential treatment potentially ignores the claim of need in a situation, grants benefits to select groups regardless of whether or not individuals experienced discrimination, can encourage dependency in some cases, and related to the earlier note of stigma, can devalue the achievements of individuals that are members of a benefited group (Andre et al, n.d.).
Regarding my personal opinion of affirmative action, I can certainly see the argument of both sides from both an academic and experiential standpoint, as I am a member of both a majority and minority group as a bi-racial individual (which in itself can be classified as a minority group). Although I may myself have benefited from checking the box on university applications and the like, I personally do not believe in ascribing value to a person's performance and qualifications simply because of their racial, ethnic, or cultural background. Perhaps from deontological standpoint, one can make the argument of correcting the wrongs of society after the fact. However, from that same perspective, I still believe that though there is positive intent, affirmative action is still an act of discrimination, and and any benefit gained could potentially be seen as something of a "hand out" rather than something earned or an affirmation of a person's achievements. Further, from a consequentialist standpoint, I would argue there is greater harm in the intentional pursuit of affirmative action, for rather than forming an objective system or allowing an existing objective system to evaluate individuals on merit, affirmative action actively takes away a benefit or desired object from one person and gives it to another. Rather than having a single beneficiary as an end result of the system, there would then be one beneficiary and one person who was arbitrarily deprived to pay for another's benefit.
Sources
Andre, C., Velasquez, M., & Mazur, T. (n.d.). Affirmative action: Twenty-five Years of Controversy. In Santa Clara University Markkula Center of Applied Ethics. Retrieved November 15, 2014, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v5n2/affirmative.html
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden: Blackwell
Liptak, A. (2014, April 23). Court Backs Michigan on Affirmative Action [Electronic version]. The New York Times, p. A1.
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