Benefits and Losses
(Malik Speaking)

Comment
 

MAIN PATH: Dee
 
 
 
 
 
Dee

I've been listening to the discussion. Ann may be right. Affirmative action can have a kind of ripple effect among blacks because it tells them for the first time that they really do have a chance for the better jobs, the better schools, and all that.

But I'm not sure that I trust this kind of argument. Look, let's assume that Ann is correct. Maybe today we can make an argument based on utility that helps blacks. But what if the situation changes? What if next year or ten years from now someone can make the argument that discriminating AGAINST blacks has more benefits than costs or undesirable consequences? Then what? I guess what I'm trying to say is that utility looks to me like a two-edged sword.

Reference: Michael Rosenfeld argues in his book Affirmative Action and Justice that all arguments for affirmative action based on utility have this problem. See chapter four.

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