Week 6 post 2

         Affirmative action is defined as a policy in which an individual's race, ethnicity, sex, religion, and/or economic standings are taken into account to increase opportunities for those under-represented oppressed parts of society. Due to society's natural inequality, affirmative action policies create equitable opportunities. Affirmative action is an attempt at diversifying the education and workplace to offer opportunities, not just for the most well-off. To better examine why a policy like this might be necessary, a 2003 study of the top 146 selective colleges and universities in the United States examined students' economic background. In this study, only 3% of students Came From The Bottom quarter of the income scale. in 2017 another study evaluating students' economic stances at selective colleges was conducted. In some of these selective colleges such as Harvard and Yale, they had more people from the top 1% in the bottom 60%. This is only the beginning of what affirmative action tries to address.  The society that exists today, specifically in America, is not equitable, and even though systems like affirmative action exist, they alone are often not enough.  American policymakers do not work in the name of egalitarianism; rather, they work and the name of capitalism. 

        To make steps towards a more impartial world, Concepts such as affirmative action need to be Implemented. Americans often try to pride themselves on the concept of freedom and equality. However, what is true equality? To have true equality in a naturally imbalanced society, there must be equity. How can it be equal for one man to be born with enough money to last ten lifetimes and another man be born into poverty so great he may never overcome it?  The truth is that it is not equal, and that is why America never has been and never will be equal unless affirmative action and similar policies are put in place.  This is where egalitarians differ from meritocratic thinkers. Meritocratic thinkers believe in Fair equality of opportunity; however, this fails to assess that equality of opportunity is not possible if oppressive social contingencies are not addressed. Even then, America and the world as a whole needs to re-evaluate the morals on which its people are raised. The psychology behind affirmative action backlash and backlash to similar policies shows a very self-righteous entitled disposition that many white people have.  Even with specific policies like affirmative action in place, white people still use it to validate themselves and make themselves feel that they are more worthy of particular schools or jobs than their peers because they got in without the aid of affirmative action.  This shows that we must stop the competition in such careers and address what it means to be a virtuous person, and raise people understanding the inequalities that still exist in this world today so that they may not exist beyond our lifetimes.