AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR NON-RACIALISTS

Abstract

Abstract Is affirmative action aimed at racial justice compatible with non-racialism? Insofar as affirmative action interventions go beyond measures aimed at de-biasing selection procedures, they are typically framed in a way that assumes that candidates belong to racial groups, and that candidates’ racial identities can and should be revealed to selection committees. The non-racialist denies the latter, and so is likely to reject affirmative action. Yet race membership is a misleading way to frame affirmative action. Insofar as preferential treatment is justified, it is because affirmative action aims to correct harms and wrongs due to racism, rather than to promote individuals on the basis of their race. So there is moral reason to advantage candidates for positions insofar as they are victims of racism. I propose such a race-agnostic reformulation of affirmative action: vulnerability-based affirmative action. Vulnerability-based affirmative action goes beyond ensuring equality of opportunity (it is robust), and it does not implicitly endorse racial identities (it is non-racial). Vulnerability-based affirmative action has some advantages over comparable race-based measures: it allows for more context-sensitive judgments about compensation, and it puts us to the task of identifying patterns of racism and their effects.