Essay on "Social Policy -- Affirmative Action"

Essay 4 pages (1162 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Social Policy -- Affirmative Action

Background and History of Affirmative Action

The concept of affirmative action evolved in the aftermath of the Civil Rights era, primarily as one way of attempting to rectify a three-century-long history of racial injustice in North America. Technically, black Africans were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865; however, genuine social equality would require almost another full century in some respects and even longer than that in many others. Overt racial and ethnic discrimination persisted well into the second half of the 20th century and institutionalized racism and myriad passive or "benign" forms of racism still exist in many communities even today (Halbert & Ingulli, 2007).

In principle, the idea behind affirmative action is that the descendents of the African slave and many members of other underprivileged minority groups had experienced the benefit of fewer opportunities for success by virtue of their race, color, or creed. Since members of underprivileged minorities had fewer educational and employment opportunities for so long, social justice requires providing reasonable assistance necessary for them to overcome their obstacles to success. Generally, affirmative action initiatives manifested themselves in connection with differential scoring requirements on tests (and other related criteria) for admission to educational institutions and preferential consideration for employment (Healey, 2003).

Proponents of the affirmative action concept consider a morally and ethically appropriate means of gradually resolving any aspects of social injustice remaining from earlier periods of American national history. That view emphasizes the causal link between the Slavery era and the patterns of poverty, unemployment, and urban blight that characterize many contemporary black areas. Conversely, opponents of the affirmative action concept suggest that even if that approach was justified when it was first introduced, the fact that a black man was elected to the U.S. presidency in 2008 illustrates that those conditions have already been resolved. The more moderate position recognizes both the benefits of the affirmative action concept as well as the potential detrimental consequences with which it is potentially associated.

Social Benefits of Affirmative Action

The fact that a black man was elected to the U.S. presidency and that the First Lady is the direct descendent of former slaves certainly evidences that the United States has evolved tremendously as a moral and ethical society within the last century and a half. However, and as encouraging as that is, the legacy of American slavery and racism can likely not be considered completely resolved simply because one particularly gifted individual managed to overcome all the obstacles in his way. Rather, the remaining legacy of racial injustice in the U.S. will be fairly described as truly an issue only in the nation's past when every minority individual has the benefit of the same opportunities as every member of the majority class.

Currently, minority status is still associated with lower rates of educational achievement, lower measures of professional success, and lower income. Statistically, minority children are less likely to complete high school, gain admission to prestigious colleges, or secure employment in many professional fields than non-minority children (Healey, 2003). Likewise, black males are at significantly greater risk of becoming involved in criminality both as perpetrators and as victims of violent crime than their Caucasian counterparts. No serious sociologist or scientist considers that even remotely a function of innate differences between the races; in fact, the scientific consensus about the concept of race is that those distinctions are fundamentally arbitrary and not based in evolutionary science (Henslin, 2002; Macionis, 2003). Therefore, the statistical difference… READ MORE

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