
Making Sense of Affirmative Action
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 22. June 2020
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-0-19-064878-7 (ISBN)
Description
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen here poses the question: "Is affirmative action morally (un)justifiable?" As a phrase that frequently surfaces in major headlines, affirmative action is a highly controversial and far-reaching issue, yet most of the recent scholarly literature surrounding the topic tends to focus on defending one side or another in a particular case of affirmative action.
Lippert-Rasmussen instead takes a wide-angle view, addressing each of the prevailing contemporary arguments for and against affirmative action. In his introduction, he proposes an amended definition of affirmative action and considers what forms, from quotas to outreach strategies, may fall under this revised definition. He then analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each position, relative to each other, and applies recent discussions in political philosophy to assess if and how each argument might justify different conclusions given different cases or philosophical frameworks. Each chapter investigates an argument for or against affirmative action. The six arguments for it consist of compensation, anti-discrimination, equality of opportunity, role model, diversity, and integration. The five arguments against it are reverse discrimination, stigma, mismatch, publicity, and merit. Lippert-Rasmussen also expands the discussion to include affirmative action for groups beyond the prototypical examples of African Americans and women, and to consider health and minority languages as possible criteria for inclusion in affirmative action initiatives.
Based on the comparative strength of anti-discrimination and equality of opportunity arguments, Making Sense of Affirmative Action ultimately makes a case in favor of affirmative action; however, its originality lies in Lippert-Rasmussen's careful exploration of moral justifiability as a contextual evaluative measure and his insistence that complexity and a comparative focus are inherent to this important issue.
Lippert-Rasmussen instead takes a wide-angle view, addressing each of the prevailing contemporary arguments for and against affirmative action. In his introduction, he proposes an amended definition of affirmative action and considers what forms, from quotas to outreach strategies, may fall under this revised definition. He then analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each position, relative to each other, and applies recent discussions in political philosophy to assess if and how each argument might justify different conclusions given different cases or philosophical frameworks. Each chapter investigates an argument for or against affirmative action. The six arguments for it consist of compensation, anti-discrimination, equality of opportunity, role model, diversity, and integration. The five arguments against it are reverse discrimination, stigma, mismatch, publicity, and merit. Lippert-Rasmussen also expands the discussion to include affirmative action for groups beyond the prototypical examples of African Americans and women, and to consider health and minority languages as possible criteria for inclusion in affirmative action initiatives.
Based on the comparative strength of anti-discrimination and equality of opportunity arguments, Making Sense of Affirmative Action ultimately makes a case in favor of affirmative action; however, its originality lies in Lippert-Rasmussen's careful exploration of moral justifiability as a contextual evaluative measure and his insistence that complexity and a comparative focus are inherent to this important issue.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
608 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-064878-7 (9780190648787)
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Schweitzer Classification
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Additional editions

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen
Making Sense of Affirmative Action
E-Book
03/2020
OUP eBook
€38.49
Available for download

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen
Making Sense of Affirmative Action
E-Book
03/2020
OUP eBook
€38.49
Available for download
Person
Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen is Professor of Political Theory at University of Aarhus, Denmark and Professor II in Philosophy at the Arctic University of Norway-UiT. He has published widely on issues in political philosophy. He is associate editor at Ethics and served as Chair for the Society for Applied Philosophy from 2011 to 2014.
Author
Professor of Political TheoryProfessor of Political Theory, University of Aarhus
Content
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: What is affirmative action?
Chapter 2: Compensation
Chapter 3: Mitigating discrimination
Chapter 4: Equality of opportunity
Chapter 5: Role models
Chapter 6: Diversity
Chapter 7: Integration
Chapter 8: Reverse discrimination
Chapter 9: Stigma and self-esteem
Chapter 10: Mismatch
Chapter 11: Publicity
Chapter 12: Merit
Chapter 13: Conclusion
References
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: What is affirmative action?
Chapter 2: Compensation
Chapter 3: Mitigating discrimination
Chapter 4: Equality of opportunity
Chapter 5: Role models
Chapter 6: Diversity
Chapter 7: Integration
Chapter 8: Reverse discrimination
Chapter 9: Stigma and self-esteem
Chapter 10: Mismatch
Chapter 11: Publicity
Chapter 12: Merit
Chapter 13: Conclusion
References