[Kieran Regan]

Affirmative action refers to many different types of employer practices and programs that have been in effect since the 1970’s that aim to benefit those that have routinely been refused equal opportunities, specifically women and minorities. Because of the large variety of ways that affirmative action is carried out, it is hard to find specific and conclusive evidence as to whether or not it has had a positive effect. This has fueled the debate even more as some feel as if the programs have had a negative effect against those who are not minorities. There are some that feel hiring individuals simply because they are a minority is unfair to those who are competing against them.

Harry Holzer of Harvard University and David Neumark of University of California conducted several studies on the effects of affirmative action in the workplace, and found almost all positive results. They found that firms that implemented equal opportunity recruiting strategies had larger percentage of minorities and women in their workforce. More importantly they found that these individuals were either just as qualified or even more qualified than their white male competitors. Even in cases that a minority had less qualifications, once hired they found that minority groups performed just as well as their white male counterparts. Another find of their study suggested that companies that implemented equal opportunity policies had more objective and effective employee evaluations, regardless of an individual’s ethnicity. There was a pattern of more impartial promotions given based on performance alone; even more than companies that did not implement equal opportunity programs.

These findings and many others allude to the fact that affirmative action has, for the most part, not had any negative effects on those who do not directly benefit from it. Ta-Nehisi Coates Guy says that its aims are a little ambiguous. While he does support the idea of affirmative action, the vague, unofficial way it is carried out may hinder its effectiveness. He says that it is a good attempt, but that simply “Vaguely endorsing a cuddly, feel-good diversity does very little to redress (395 years of the preferential treatment of white people)”. Racism has been deeply rooted in our society, even institutionalized. Programs such as these that directly combat systemic racism that has existed for hundreds of years are needed if we look to have equality.

• This topic was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Kieran Regan.
• This topic was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Kieran Regan.

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