Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action

The Fair-Start Defense justifies affirmative action preferences as a response to harms caused by race- and sex-based discrimination. Rather than base a justification for preferences on the traditional appeal to self-esteem, I argue they are justified in virtue of the effects institutional discrimina...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Himma, K. E. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2001
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2001, Volume: 30, Issue: 3, Pages: 277-289
Further subjects:B Institutional Discrimination
B Action Preference
B Affirmative Action
B Competitive Disadvantage
B Economic Growth
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The Fair-Start Defense justifies affirmative action preferences as a response to harms caused by race- and sex-based discrimination. Rather than base a justification for preferences on the traditional appeal to self-esteem, I argue they are justified in virtue of the effects institutional discrimination has on the goals and aspirations of its victims. In particular, I argue that institutional discrimination puts women and blacks at an unfair competitive disadvantage by causing academic disidentification. Affirmative action is justified as a means of negating this unfair disadvantage.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1023/A:1006401619357