Effects of Affirmative Action on Society

and the Quality of Life of the People

Now that we have been given a brief overview of the history of affirmative action, I will discuss the positive and negative aspects of the policy, which effect society and the quality of life of the people. Affirmative Action was implemented with the idea and hope that America would finally become truly equal. The tension and struggle of the Civil Rights Movement had made it very clear that the America s minority and female population were not receiving equal social and economic opportunity. I believe that the implementation of Affirmative Action was America s first honest attempt at solving this problem it had previously chosen to ignore.

Affirmative Action has had its greatest amount of success in city, state , and government jobs. Since the 1960 s, the area of law enforcement witnessed the greatest increase in minority applicants, and in jobs offered to minorities. This should be viewed as an extremely positive thing, because prior to Affirmative Action, these jobs were almost completely closed off to minorities and women. The influx has been greatest in the area of government, state, and city, because this type of occupation is easier for Affirmative Action to watch over and regulate. Affirmative Action has experienced

considerably less success in integration of big business. This is due to the fact that big business has been more resistant to Affirmative Action, and, harder to regulate. However this is an area in which most supporters of Affirmative Action expect to see a change.

There are many people who don t see Affirmative Action as a positive policy and would like to see it eliminated. Since Affirmative Action is a compromise, it does not please everybody. Many believe that Affirmative Action is far from perfect. First of all, Affirmative Action uses reverse discrimination to solve the problem of discrimination, in that, it promotes the hiring of less skilled workers. Arguments are made that employers have to choose the best available employee from the minorities, instead of having to choose simply the best available employee. This bothers employers as well as employees who do not qualify for Affirmative Action. Employers feel they end up with a lesser qualified worker. Here we come yet to another disadvantage of Affirmative Action, namely that now every employee from a minority that benefits from Affirmative Action bears a mark of not being the best pick, but the best pick from a limited group. Even if the person was selected for being the best available on the complete job market. The bypassed employees feel tricked by the government or the minority. This could fire up racism among the bypassed group, while Affirmative Action was introduced to decrease racism. Affirmative Action does provide people from certain minorities with a job they would not have received otherwise (this is what Affirmative Action was introduced for).

This brings me to the last negative aspect of Affirmative Action on society. In a situation like this, nothing, no matter what kind of regulation you, will change unless the people (employers in this case) are willing to change and to cooperate. I find it sad that in America, the melting-pot of cultures from all over the world, the Most Powerful Nation on Earth , is so weak internally. I believe that as long as people are unyielding and unwilling to live with each other and respect each other, the melting-pot will keep on boiling.

Despite all of the negative aspects of Affirmative Action that I have mentioned above (without a doubt, there are many more), I feel Affirmative Action is necessary. Until a better solution is found, or until the American people finally stop quarrelling about race, color, and culture, and establish peace internally in the country itself, I believe Affirmative Action should stay, being the best solution available, a compromise.