Affirmative Action Measures Discussion Solutions

Affirmative Action Measures Discussion Solutions
Affirmative Action Measures Discussion Solutions
1. Critics have claimed that affirmative action, when effected through
preferential selection, confounds justice in a variety of ways.
Which of the following is NOT one of those?
(A) It is not clear whether those affected positively by preferential
selection deserve those benefits.
(B) Those most deserving of jobs sometimes will not get them because
of their race.
(C) Justice cannot be achieved by making those not responsible for
a social ill pay for it.
(D) Those who are most negatively affected by preferential selection are
typically too young to have enjoyed the unfair advantage given to
whites because of slavery.
(E) Employers are unjustly made to change the status quo, even if the
status quo has been good for the employer.
2. Affirmative action refers to .
(A) policies that take factors such as race, religion, gender, sexual
orientation, etc., into consideration, with the aim of benefiting an
the underrepresented group in order to counter the effects of a history
of discrimination
(B) policies that ignore factors such as race, religion, gender, sexual
orientation, etc., in hiring procedures, with the aim of removing
arbitrary personal traits from the list of relevant skills and talents
required for the job
(C) policies that mandate, by law, racial segregation in all public facilities,
with a so-called separate but equal status for black Americans
(D) policies that outlaw major forms of discrimination against blacks
and women, including racial segregation
(E) policies that ensure financial compensation for the descendants of
slaves as a way to make up for the coerced and uncompensated labor
performed by their ancestors
66 ❯ McGraw-Hill’s 500 Philosophy Questions
Affirmative Action Measures Discussion Solutions
3. Critics often see affirmative action as a special form of discrimination,
referred to as .
(A) a double standard
(B) segregation
(C) institutionalized racism
(D) reverse racism
(E) a quota system
4. Suppose someone argued that the effects of affirmative action would
involve a decrease in the overall balance of well-being over misery,
and so affirmative action is wrong. What system or view of ethics underlies
this argument?
(A) Deontology
(B) Virtue ethics
(C) Moral nihilism
(D) Emotivism
(E) Consequentialism
5. Which of the following is an apt description of preferential selection
in the context of affirmative action?
(A) Selection of a person for hiring or acceptance into college on the basis
of race, gender, ethnicity, etc.
(B) Selection of a person for hiring or acceptance into college on the basis
of relevant skills and abilities
(C) Selection of a special interest group for public acknowledgment
of their special abilities and talents
(D) Selection of any person to receive special grants for business and
education
(E) Selection of a person for public acknowledgment of his or her special
abilities and talents
6. What ethical notion is central to the argument in James Rachels’s
“What People Deserve”?
(A) Just deserts
(B) Happiness
(C) Love
(D) The categorical imperative
(E) The hedonistic calculus
Applied Ethics ❮ 67
Affirmative Action Measures Discussion Solutions
7. How might one respond to the charge that affirmative action is no more
than an attempt at social engineering by liberal Democrats?
(A) Liberal Democrats have traditionally stayed away from social
engineering.
(B) Affirmative action is actually an attempt at social engineering
by conservative Republicans.
(C) Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 was the originating
document of affirmative action programs in the United States.
(D) Affirmative action programs have not had the results that they were
supposed to have had, and there is no longer any reason to continue
support for them.
(E) Affirmative action programs have been in place under the
administrations of three Democratic presidents and six Republican
presidents.
8. Which of the following is NOT one of the main criticisms of affirmative
action?
(A) Affirmative action enforces an unjust “quota” system.
(B) Affirmative action rewards those who do not themselves deserve
reward.
(C) Affirmative action punishes those who do not themselves deserve
punishment.
(D) Affirmative action only works if those affected by it do not harbor
resentment toward one another as a result of it.
(E) Affirmative action involves “reverse racism.”
9. The policy that has usually been responsible for the greatest opposition
to affirmative action measures is .
(A) neutrality
(B) deliberate ambiguity
(C) tolerance
(D) undifferentiated potential
(E) preferential selection
9. Which American president signed into law Executive Order 10925, the
order that first introduced the term affirmative action?
(A) J. Edgar Hoover
(B) John F. Kennedy
(C) Abraham Lincoln
(D) Richard Nixon
(E) Dwight D. Eisenhower
Having a hard time figuring out how to do your assignment?
Ask our experts for help and get it done in no time!