Affirmative Action in Theory and Practice: issues of Power, Ambiguity, and Gender Versus Race

Social Identity and Personal Identity Stereotype Threat: The Case of Affirmative Action

“…Existing research on affirmative action shows that conveying that targets are sufficiently qualified can abate detrimental ramifications of affirmative action on targets (Brown et al, 2000;Eberhardt & Fiske, 1994;Evans, 2003;Harrison et al, 2006;Heilman et al, 1998;Major et al, 1994;Resendez, 2002). Also, research that addresses the effect of concerns about stereotypes suggests that the presence of successful ingroup role models (Marx & Roman, 2002), positive but challenging feedback (Cohen, Steele, & Ross, 1999;Steele, 1997), and information regarding the malleability of intelligence (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002;Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003;Inzlicht & Good, 2006) can enhance outcomes as well.…”

“…In contrast, the vast majority of real-world affirmative action programs consider a combination of merit and group membership (Crosby, 1994(Crosby, , 2004Crosby, Iyer, Clayton, & Downing, 2003;Harrison et al, 2006). When merit is thought to be a selection criterion in addition to group membership in experimental research, affirmative action benefit is less likely to detract from self-evaluations and performance (Brown et al, 2000;Eberhardt & Fiske, 1994;Harrison et al, 2006;Heilman et al, 1998;Major et al, 1994). The current research uses such a real-world affirmative action program.…”

Support for affirmative action, justice perceptions, and work attitudes: A study of gender and racial–ethnic group differences.

“…Although the dynamics of sexism are different than racism, sexist attitudes toward women may also account for men's negative reactions to AA/EO (Eberhardt & Fiske, 1995). A third factor that may affect reactions to organizational support for AA/EO is one's beliefs regarding the current level of discrimination in the workplace.…”

Affirmative Action Policy and Changing Views

“…Because affirmative action is seen as giving preference to members of protected groups with little regard to merit, people imagine employers carelessly attempting to fill quotas for minorities (and sometimes women), as White males allegedly become more and more disenfranchised (Eberheart and Fiske, 1994).…”

“…White men are seen as race-free and gender-free such that their group status could not possibly influence any outcome (Eberheart and Fiske, 1994).…”