Affirmative action has been in the spotlight of the political, and in particular, liberal agenda, since the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Affirmative action policies implemented by organizations or institutions imply consideration of an individual’s sex, race, gender, sexual orientation, and age when providing them with educational or employment opportunities. It is intended as an improvement strategy for integrating the discriminated social groups, such as social minorities and women, into society as full-fledged citizens with equal rights at the start. Thus, affirmative action plays an important role in the establishment of a truly democratic society.
Ever since the idea of affirmative action was first initiated and integrated into American political debate, many institutions have strived to apply it. One of the examples of affirmative action policy concerns the University of Michigan and its Law School. Belonging to a social minority would be rated with twice as many points as a perfect SAT score during application (Grim, 2019). Another case in point of affirmative action is the Canadian Employment Equity Act which obliges the industries under the federal government to provide special benefits to the following social minority groups: women, the disabled, ethnic aboriginals, and visible minorities, which include any non-white people (Government of Canada, 2021). Initially, affirmative action has a noble goal, as it strives to create and provide equal opportunities for a workplace and education for everyone. Historically and systematically discriminated and overlooked people through affirmative action receive a real chance for equal treatment and are presented with opportunities that they never had a chance for before. However, affirmative action is a controversial subject, and forming a strong opinion about it poses a certain challenge, as its implementation can distort the original aims.
The first and foremost reason for the necessity of affirmative action is the need for diversity. According to a study conducted by Bowen and Bok in 2003, the percentage of African-Americans enrolled in higher education was raised by a significant amount through the integration of affirmative action policies, and later on graduated with similar grades to their white counterparts (Bowen & Bok, 2003). Thus, it is fair to say that affirmative action does condition diversity in education.
However, affirmative action can lead to reverse discrimination. If this policy is implemented those who do not belong to any of the social minority groups may turn up in a situation where they would have to work and achieve more than those who fall under these categories and thus, receive some kind of preferential treatment. For instance, a lower-class Caucasian person may have lower opportunities for higher education than a non-white person from an upper class. The conservatives argue that affirmative action potentially lowers the accountability standard for university applicants and employees.
Despite the obvious negative consequence that affirmative action may result in, for me as a liberal-leaning individual, it is hard to deny the importance of integrating such policies into society and its institutions. So, my attitude towards the issue is consistent with the political ideology that I adhere to. Even though the negative implications are almost inevitable, I think that these costs are necessary to incur at the early stages of democratic development. With such a price, it remedies the injustices that the culture of long systematic discrimination imposed on the members of minorities, and thus, deals with the possible resentment within these groups that is natural for the unfairness that was taking place for hundreds of years. It is important to note that affirmative action significantly increases the chances for immigrants and other new members of society, to be smoothly integrated into it. This, in turn, creates a balanced, harmonized, broad-minded, and diversified society.
References
Bowen, W., & Bok, D. (2003). The shape of the river: Long-term consequences of considering race in college and university admissions. Princeton University Press.
Government of Canada. (2021). Equality and inclusion in federally regulated industries and workplaces.
Grim, J. (2019). The experiences of academic diversity officers at the University of Michigan. NCID Currents 1(1), 20-32.