PP247 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10-1: Thomas Nagel
Document Summary
Originally, affirmative action referred only to special efforts to ensure = opportunity for members of groups that had been subject to discrimination. More recently, the term has come to refer also to some degree of definite preference for members of these groups in determining access to positions from which they were formerly excluded. Such preference might be allowed to influence decisions only between candidates who are otherwise =ly qualified, but usually involves the selection of women or minority members over other candidates who are better qualified for the position. Original = weak affirmative action & new = strong. Inefficiency: the degree of inefficiency depends on how strong a role racial or sexual preference plays in the process of selection. By and large, policies of strong affirmative action must reckon with the costs of some lowering in performance level: the stronger the preference, the > the cost to be justified.
