Transcript Chapter Ten: Discrimination

Chapter Ten:
Discrimination
Review
Applying Ethics: A Text with Readings (10th ed.)
Julie C. Van Camp, Jeffrey Olen, Vincent Barry
Cengage Learning/Wadsworth
How should we understand
key terminology?
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What is affirmative action?
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What is preferential hiring?
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employment practice to give special consideration to people from
groups traditionally victimized by discrimination
What is quota hiring?
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positive measures beyond neutral nondiscriminatory and merithiring employment practices
court-ordered remedy setting mandated hiring goals to correct
documented history of discrimination
What is reverse discrimination?
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unfair treatment of a majority member
What are the different forms of
discrimination?
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Intentional individual discrimination
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Unintentional individual discrimination
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Intentional institutional discrimination
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Unintentional institutional discrimination
What counts as
evidence of discrimination?
 Statistical
evidence
 Practices
and policies
 Attitudes
and assumptions
“The Justification of Reverse Discrimination”
Tom L. Beauchamp
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How does he defend reverse
discrimination?
 Eradication
of pervasive discrimination in
hiring and promotion requires enforced
goals and quotas
 Goals
and quotas serve corporate interests
as well as the public interest
“A Defense of Programs of
Preferential Treatment”
Richard Wasserstrom
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How does he defend preferential hiring?
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by attacking two major criticism
(1) “Intellectual inconsistency” of opposing
discrimination in the past but favoring it now in
preferential treatment
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Different social conditions make these reconcilable
(2) Ignoring individual qualifications
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We do not choose only the most qualified in many situations
Why do we assume the best qualified deserve all of society’s
benefits?
“Reverse Discrimination as Unjustified”
Lisa Newton
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What is wrong with reverse discrimination?
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It undermines the concept of equal justice under law
for all citizens
What are other problems with reverse
discrimination?
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What counts as a minority? What majority is willing to
give something up to benefit those minorities?
What would count as restitution? When is enough
enough?
“Class, Not Race”
Richard D. Kahlenberg
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What are the advantages of giving preferences by
class, not race?
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How should class or disadvantage be defined?
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Promoting the original goals of the Civil Rights Act
parental income, education, occupation, net worth,
quality of secondary education, neighborhood, family
What are the objections to this approach?
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Racial discrimination still a problem
Class preferences stigmatizing
Treats people as members of groups, not individuals
Will not yield diverse student body
Would cause resentment