Pro Affirmative Action

Arguments for Affirmative Action Policies

Affirmative action policies include any policies that (a) attempt to actively dismantle institutionalized or informal cultural norms and systems of ascriptive group-based disadvantage, and the inequalities historically resulting from them, and/or that (b) attempt to promote an ideal of inclusive community, as in ideals of democracy, integration, and pluralism (multiculturalism), (c) by means that classify people according to their ascriptive identities (race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.).

Arguments for affirmative action policies can be divided into 4 categories.  (1) Arguments on grounds of justice defend affirmative action as a compensation or corrective for past and continuing racism/sexism. (2) Arguments on grounds of democracy view group-conscious representational devices as necessary under certain conditions for realizing a democratic society. (3) Arguments on grounds of social utility claim that affirmative action policies promote desirable goals such as better mentoring of members of disadvantaged groups or delivering professional services to the disadvantaged.  (4) Arguments on grounds of free speech and education defend affirmative action policies for the ways they create the diverse set of participants in discourse, research, and learning that is claimed necessary to promote the internal mission of educational institutions.