Today’s Topics

1. Today’s Topics Mid Term Post Mortem Discuss Liberty, Equality, Justice and Difference Discuss Affirmative Action Discuss Diversity in the Workplace (Women Workers)

2. A Reality Check About Discrimination in America Today • DWB • Higher employment rates for whites • Males earn more than females • Job dominance by race and gender • Persistent stories of blatant discrimination

3. Puncturing A Few Myths About Affirmative Action • Middle class and professional white women are the largest beneficiaries of affirmative action. • Have black males have not benefited much at the expense of white males.

4. Liberty, Equality, Justice, and Difference • How do we achieve equality in the face of significant differences? • Justice means treating like cases alike, but when are two cases alike?

5. Crucial Assumption--Talent is Roughly Equally Distributed by Race and Gender

6. The Realities of Difference • Important physical performance differences between genders • Important cognitive performance differences between genders • Important cognitive performance differences between races

7. Race Is a Suspect Concept (and a Suspect Classification)

8. Race Is a Suspect Concept • NO biological basis for our idea of race • What is race? Hard cases in determining race • Odd “Racial Groups” • “Mixed race” as a governmental category

9. How Do We Interpret, Account For, And Remedy the Mismatch Between Our Assumptions and the Reality of Difference?

10. The Assumption of Merit--The Best Qualified Person Should Win, Given a Fair Competition

11. The Assumption of Merit--The Best Qualified Person Should Win, Given a Fair Competition • Is “Best Qualified” a well-defined and well understood idea? • What makes a competition fair?

12. Assumptions that Underlie the Concept of the “Best Qualified”

13. Assumptions that Underlie the Concept of the “Best Qualified” • Job qualifications can be specified exactly • There is a univocal scale that ranks people • Both are dubious, if not false

14. What Makes a Competition Fair?

15. What Makes a Competition Fair? Equality of Opportunity

16. Two Views of Equal Opportunity

17. Two Views of Equal Opportunity • Equality of Process--the restrictive view • Equality of Results--the expansive view

18. Equality of Process • A society of color blind equal opportunity • The California Civil Rights Initiative--prohibits the use of race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin for discrimination against or preferential treatment of any person. . .

19. Equality of Result • With a fair process, the results should roughly match population demographics • “You don’t starve somebody for a month, break both legs, put him at the starting line and say ‘May the best man win!’” Lyndon B. Johnson

20. How Do We Explain the Observed Differences? Is Society, or Government, Responsible (past discrimination)?

21. Possible Responses to Imposed or Created Inequality • Use different standards for different groups • Race norming • Take Affirmative Action to remedy the inequality • Do nothing

22. Is Affirmative Action Morally Permissible? • Pojman--NO • Hettinger--YES, though it is problematic

23. Pojman--Affirmative Action is Morally Impermissible • Define terms--Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action

24. Equal Opportunity • Everyone has a fair chance at the best positions. Only native aptitude and effort enter into the decision. • Special policies

25. Affirmative Action • to remedy past injustices • Weak Affirmative Action--eliminating formal barriers, increasing minority representation in an applicant pool, using race as a tie-breaker • Strong Affirmative Action--reverse discrimination, preferences, set asides.

26. Role Models Need to Break Stereotypes Equal Results Compensation for Past Injustices Compensation from those who benefited Diversity as a Primary Good Anti-Meritocratic Position Arguments For Affirmative Action

27. Role Models

28. Need To Break Stereotypes

29. Equal Results

30. Compensation for Past Injustice

31. Compensation from Those Who Have Benefited from Past Injustice

32. Diversity as a Primary Good

33. Anti-Meritocratic Position

34. Anti-Meritocratic Position • Recall Rawls on the natural lottery

35. Reverse Discrimination is Still Wrong Perpetuates Victim Syndrome Encourages Mediocrity and Incompetence Unjustly Shifts Burden of Proof Meritocracy Slippery Slope It Just Doesn’t work Against Affirmative Action

36. Discrimination, Reverse or Otherwise, is Wrong

37. Perpetuating the Victim Syndrome

38. Encourages Mediocrity and Incompetence

39. Unjustly Shifts Burden of Proof

40. Meritocracy

41. The Slippery Slope

42. Affirmative Action Just Does Not Work

43. Additional Arguments Against • Economically inefficient • Unfair to those not selected • Rewards an individual for membership in a disadvantaged group, even though the individual might not be disadvantaged

44. Hettinger--Affirmative Action IS Morally Justified

45. Bad Arguments Against Affirmative Action • AA is equivalent to Racism or Sexism • Race and Sex are Always Irrelevant • Stereotypes • AA is Unjust

46. Affirmative Action is NOT Equivalent to Racism or Sexism

47. Affirmative Action is NOT Equivalent to Racism or Sexism • Motives matter • Results differ radically

48. Race and Sex are Sometimes Relevant Characteristics

49. Race and Sex are Sometimes Relevant Characteristics • Special Job requirements • Mission

50. Affirmative Action and Stereotyping • Works ONLY against the compensatory justice defense