Notes on Affirmative Action: Murray vs. Dworkin

The Anti-AA Paper:

Charles Murray: “Affirmative Racism”

-the new racism: blacks are temporarily (i.e., until the benefits of AA kick in) less competent than whites
-why it’s a form of racism: like the older form, it has the key feature of treating blacks differently than whites: they aren’t treated as equals.
-the new racism is directly caused by a form of preferential treatment (PT) enacted through AA.
-therefore, AA is in this way (and others. See below) making things worse for blacks in particular and society in general; it is not making things better.
-the new racism is especially prevalent among affluent white elites.
-the new racism is focused on blacks
-the effects of the new racism can be just as bad as those of the old racism.

-the two components of the new racism:
-the belief component:
-the “global” component of their view of blacks: this aspect of their beliefs is generally ok and acceptable: blacks must be allowed and enabled to achieve full equality.
-the “local” component of their view of blacks: (the unacceptable aspect of their beliefs) in actual fact, and through no fault of their own (but through unfair treatment in the past and present, via racism and unequal opportunity), they haven’t yet reached full equality.
-they believe that the black professionals that they run into at work and in social circles aren’t “on the average, up to the white standard.” (252)
-they think of blacks as a “commodity”: “the office must have a sufficient supply of blacks, who must be treated with the utmost delicacy” (ibid.)
-the behavioral component: blacks aren’t treated as equals.
-refuse blacks an education they would’ve otherwise have gotten (must read the article to see what the author means by this – it’s not what you think).
-stick blacks in dead-end jobs (must read the article to see what the author means by this).

-a result of the new racism: “the personnel problems this creates are more difficult than most because whites barely admit to themselves what’s going on.” (ibid.)

-A key argument: AA has, in fact, led to a performance gap between blacks and non-minorities. The following is an account of how the performance gap is created. There is a hierarchy of groups of universities and colleges with respect to quality and prestige, and there is a corresponding hierarchy of groups of school applicants with respect to abilities and qualifications. Each group of schools has a set of spaces set aside for black candidates to fill each year, but there aren’t enough qualified black applicants to fill all of the spaces. So, in order to fill its spaces, the top group of schools takes students from the group of applicants that are “second best” with respect to overt qualifications. This results in a corresponding lack of qualified black applicants for the next group of schools in the hierarchy, in which case they have to select black applicants from the next best qualified pool of applicants, and so on all the way down to the “bottom” group of schools and of applicants. The result is that (i) at each level in the hierarchy of schools, black students aren’t being allowed to “compete” with their academic peers, but with those selected from a more “qualified” group of applicants (unlike, e.g., white students, who aren’t directly affected by the admission process in the way outlined above). This leads to (ii) the false and harmful impression that black students are academically inferior to (e.g.) their white peers.

The Pro-AA Papers:

Ronald Dworkin: “Affirmative Action: Does it Work?”

Summary: Dworkin spends most of his paper utilizing the results of a monumental, rigorous study of the effects of AA in top universities – The Shape of the River, by William Bowen and Derek Bok – to develop an argument that, as has been borne out in actual fact, AA does much more good than harm, contrary to the claims of AA’s critics. He also briefly argues that AA is not wrong as a matter of principle. For it violates no individual rights; nor does it compromise some moral principle.

Basic progression of the paper:

I. Preliminaries: the basic arguments and issues stated; pointing out the importance of the new Shape of the River study.

Two strands of the debate about AA
-An issue of principle: AA is unfair because it violates the right of every applicant to be judged solely on the basis of their individual merits.
-An issue of policy or practical consequences: AA does more harm than good. For (i) it enrolls some blacks in academic studies beyond their capacities; (ii) it stigmatizes all blacks as inferior; and (iii) it makes society more, rather than less, conscious of race.

A premise commonly accepted by proponents on both sides of the dispute: AA is fair if it does substantial good for (a) those it was originally intended to benefit or (b) the community as a whole. If not, then it is unfair. For then the damage it does to the admissions prospects of other qualified applicants would then be pointless.

A common pro-AA argument: race-sensitive policies of certain sorts are essential, in the short run, for eliminating or diminishing the impact of race in the long run.

A common reply from anti-AA proponents: AA has been (in fact) counterproductive:
-It has “sacrificed” rather than helped blacks admitted to university programs, perpetuating a sense of black inferiority.
-It promotes black separatism and a race-conscious society rather than black integration and a genuinely colorblind society.

Dworkin’s analysis of this debate: both groups (anti and pro AA) rely on a factual premise for which they give little evidence, viz., anecdotal or introspective reports of isolated incidents of racial harmony/disharmony caused by/hindered by AA.

The new study that remedies the lack of support of the factual premise: The Shape of the River: An extremely thorough, rigorous study of the effects of AA in top universities.

Dworkin’s key point: The Shape of the River report provides extremely strong evidence for the pro-AA position by supporting the factual premise of the pro-AA argument from policy/ practical consequences: the study shows beyond reasonable doubt that AA has substantially benefited students and society.

II. Bringing the findings of the study to bear on the argument from practical consequences, part 1:

-1. AA does not accept unqualified blacks. (contrary to Murray’s claim)

-2. Blacks do not typically waste the opportunity they are offered. They would not be better off in less demanding institutions.

III. Bringing the findings of the study to bear on the argument from practical consequences, part 2:

-3. AA has produced a substantial number successful black businessmen, professionals, and community leaders.

-4. Racial diversity in a university’s student body helps to break down stereotyping and hostility among the students. This benefit endures in post-university life.

-5. AA does not damage blacks by unduly insulting or mortifying them; nor does it destroy their self-respect, or poison the black image. (contrary to Murray’s claim)

-6. The proportion of blacks in prestigious institutions cannot be maintained if AA were abandoned and race-neutral standards were used instead.

-7. The United States is better off, judged strictly by the outcome, because its most selective universities and colleges have practiced AA over the past thirty years.

IV. Answering the anti-AA arguments that AA violates the rights of whites and other candidates who are denied admission, as well as the rights of the few blacks who feel insulted from AA.

-preliminary point: even if we granted, for the sake of argument, that this argument is correct, the damage caused by AA toward such people is extremely small. It would only increase the chances of admission for whites from 25% to 26.5%.
-what is meant by “qualifications”? 3 interpretations:
-having some physical or intellectual quality
-backward-looking qualifications: prior achievement
-forward-looking qualifications: promise of success
-the 3rd kind of qualification is the relevant one for university admissions.
-the kind of promise of future success that is relevant depends upon the goals of a given university.
-academic ability and achievement is not (nor was it ever) the sole goal or indicator that universities consider.
-universities has long recognized, and the Shape of the River study shows, that two key goals of universities are well served by including race as a qualification and indicator of meeting the goals of a university;
-the goal of diversity
-the goal of making our collective, social life in America more just and harmonious.