Affirmative Action and Racial Preference: A Debate (Point Counterpoint)

✍ Scribed by Carl Cohen, James P. Sterba

• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 412
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Racial preferences are among the most contentious issues in our society, touching on fundamental questions of fairness and the proper role of racial categories in government action. Now two contemporary philosophers, in a lively debate, lay out the arguments on each side. Carl Cohen, a key figure in the University of Michigan Supreme Court cases, argues that racial preferences are morally wrong--forbidden by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and explicitly banned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He also contends that such preferences harm society in general, damage the universities that use them, and undermine the minorities they were intended to serve. James P. Sterba counters that, far from being banned by the Constitution and the civil rights acts, affirmative action is actually mandated by law in the pursuit of a society that is racially and sexually just. The same Congress that adopted the 14th Amendment, he notes, passed race-specific laws that extended aid to blacks. Indeed, there are various kinds of affirmative action--compensation for past discrimination, remedial measures aimed at current discrimination, the guarantee of diversity--and Sterba reviews the Supreme Court cases that build a constitutional foundation for each. Affirmative action, he argues, favors qualified minority candidates, not unqualified ones. Both authors offer concluding comment on the University of Michigan cases decided in 2003. Half a century after Brown v. Board of Education, issues pertaining to racial discrimination continue to grip American society. This penetrating debate explores the philosophical and legal arguments on all sides of affirmative action, but also reveals the passions that drive the issue to the forefront of public life.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 7
Preface One......Page 11
Preface Two......Page 13
Cases......Page 15
SECTION ONE: WHY RACE PREFERENCE IS WRONG AND BAD......Page 19
Prologue: Wrongness and Badness......Page 21
PART I: EQUALITY AND RACE PREFERENCE......Page 23
1 Equality as a Moral Ideal......Page 25
2 Affirmative Action......Page 30
3 Race Preference: The Transformation of Affirmative Action......Page 33
PART II: WHY RACE PREFERENCE IS WRONG......Page 39
4 Race Preference Is Morally Wrong......Page 41
5 Race Preference Is Against the Law......Page 64
6 Race Preference Violates the Constitution......Page 90
PART III: WHY RACE PREFERENCE IS BAD......Page 125
7 Race Preference Is Bad for the Minorities Preferred......Page 127
8 Race Preference Is Bad for the Universities that Give Preference......Page 148
9 Race Preference Is Bad for Society as a Whole......Page 182
Epilogue: The Future of Race Preference......Page 199
SECTION TWO: DEFENDING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, DEFENDING PREFERENCES......Page 207
1 A Legal History of Affirmative Action in the United States......Page 209
2 A Definition of Affirmative Action......Page 217
3 A Defense of Outreach Affirmative Action......Page 222
4 A Defense of Remedial Affirmative Action......Page 224
5 Remedial Affirmative Action and the U.S. Supreme Court......Page 231
6 Racial Discrimination v. Sexual Discrimination......Page 244
7 A Better Standard of Proof for Remedial Affirmative Action......Page 248
8 A Defense of Diversity Affirmative Action......Page 259
9 Objections to Affirmative Action......Page 269
10 Affirmative Action outside the United States......Page 291
Conclusion......Page 294
SECTION THREE: REPLY TO JAMES P. STERBA......Page 297
SECTION FOUR: REPLY TO CARL COHEN......Page 323
SECTION FIVE: COMMENTS ON THE SUPREME COURT DECISION......Page 369
Bibliography......Page 383
A......Page 389
B......Page 391
C......Page 392
D......Page 395
E......Page 396
F......Page 397
G......Page 398
H......Page 399
K......Page 400
M......Page 401
P......Page 403
Q......Page 404
R......Page 405
S......Page 407
U......Page 410
Y......Page 412