The Case Against Affirmative Action 2 - Research Paper Example

Also, the idea behind the same is derived from setting something right by committing a wrong action again. Discrimination of any form is wrong and in this case discrimination takes place against the majority group in order to settle the injustice undergone by the minorities at one point of time. For instance, since the blacks were treated as slaves once, it is justified that they should be getting some privileges over and above the whites who perhaps had no connection with slavery of the past.

The idea is based upon “Two Wrongs Make a Right Thesis” (Pojman) Despite all, one might argue essentially on the basis of discrimination alone that Affirmative Action cannot do justice to the society at large and is ethically wrong. There are essentially two main arguments, which might be given in favor of Affirmative Action. The first source of argument is derived from the perception that this has helped in making United States a very fair and united society. In the year 1950, an estimation of NAACP showed that merely 15 percent of the Afro Americans managed to gain employment in white-collar jobs like clerical or sales posts against 44 percent of the whites designated in similar positions.

In fact racially inferior people were excluded from the fields concerning apprenticeships oriented towards skilled profession like that of plumbers and electricians. As a result the income level of the black families amounted to around 55 percent of the earnings of the whites. The level of unemployment among the blacks was double that of the whites. Owing to certain programs such as Philadelphia Plan in 2002 the percentage of blacks in white collar and service oriented jobs amounts to three fourths while 25 percent of them have jobs in management and professional designations.

While there were merely 10 Afro Americans to represent the Congress in 1970, this number increased to 40 after the elections of 2006. In the education scenario, around 39 percent of Afro Americans