Affirmative Action



Affirmative Action

Introduction

Affirmative action in the United States refers to the policies or measures taken to promote equal opportunities regardless of any discrimination in terms of gender, sex, race, ethnicity or disability especially in relation to employment or education. The term has gained a lot of importance in the US and many milestones have been achieved in relation to affirmative action which signifies the importance of the issue. In the last fifty years or so, affirmative action has been a subject of a lot of discussion and debate.

Discussion

The Executive Order 10925 by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 was the first major step in the direction of ending discrimination. The next important decision came when President Johnson developed and enforced the Civil Rights Act that required all government contractors to take measures to ensure fair hiring practices. A more recent major call for affirmative action came when President Clinton in 1995 emphasized on affirmative action in his speech and issued a memorandum for the cause. Many Supreme Court rulings can also be found on this issue besides the historical achievements at the state level which is an indicative of its importance.

Affirmative action can be related to the concepts of social psychology. The human tendencies of natural selection and social learning might be considered to be a cause of discriminatory action. On the other hand, those selected on the basis of affirmative action may devalue their own performance or feel inferior or devalued by others because of the feeling of being selected because of affirmative action (Heilman et.al. 1987).

Although affirmative action brings significant benefits along with it but there are also issues with its implementation. The major challenge is a potential for reverse discrimination. Also it has been observed that individuals feel that affirmative action is a source of ...