Question

Assigned questions:

For over two hundred years, white males have been the most powerful group in the United States. Through economic exclusions, enforced by laws and reinforced by deep cultural attitudes, there has existed, in effect, a preferential hiring program for white males. In light of that historical reality and the dynamics that remain in our culture, evaluate the contemporary strategy of affirmative action for women and minorities to bring about more fairness in hiring and promotion practices. Draw heavily from the assigned readings and then explain and defend your arguments concerning affirmative action and "reverse discrimination." REMEMBER, YOU MUST USE A THEORY TO SUPPORT YOUR POSITION.

Answer 1

For as long as I can remember, everyone would say “no one has it as easy as a white middle-aged male”. However, what we fail to look at is this “perfect group” of individuals are also victims of reverse discrimination. Too often someone who is well qualified is denied a promotion or fired from their employment due to the “minority groups” actions. According to Shaw and Barry, “To discriminate in employment is to make an adverse decision regarding an employee or a job applicant based on his or her membership in a certain group. More specifically, job discrimination occurs when (1) an employment decision in some way harms or disadvantages an employee or a job applicant; (2) the decision is based on the person’s membership in a certain group, rather thanthe individual, and (3) the decision rests on prejudice, false stereotypes, or the assumption that the group in question is in some way inferior” ( Shaw and Barry). When an office made up of mainly white men has a position open, they would have the tendency to look for a candidate which would be other white men. They do not realize how this is discriminatory, they are just looking for someone to “fit in” with them.This is where I see affirmative action coming into place. The purpose of affirmative action is to provide equal opportunity to minority groups, but in a way it seems like they are being singled out. Its almost represented as; you are not of a Caucasian race, and you are not a male, so here is a training program to help you be equal. On other hands, these programs often leave employers overlooking potentially qualified applications so they can favor the applicants who meet affirmative action standards. This often leads employers to make decisions based on numbers, not qualifications, which then turns to having a high turnover rate of employees who were not as qualified as other applicants.