Reverse discrimination

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Part of a series of articles on Discrimination

Major forms Racism Sexism Homophobia Ageism Antisemitism Islamophobia Ableism
Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling Hate speech · Hate crime Genocide · Ethnocide · Holocaust Ethnic cleansing · Pogrom Intolerance · Xenophobia Religious intolerance/persecution
Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism White/Black supremacy Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism Women's/Universal suffrage Civil rights · Gay rights
Groups NAACP · ADL · ADC NOW · ACLU · HRC
Issues Gay marriage Zimbabwe land reform Darfur conflict
Policies Discriminatory Segregation: Racial/Ethnic/Religious/Sexual Apartheid · Isolationism Japanese internment Anti-discrminatory Emancipation · Civil rights Integration · Desegregation Affirmative action · Racial quota Reservation · Reparations
Law Discriminatory Anti-miscegenation Alien and Sedition Acts Jim Crow laws · Black codes Nuremberg Laws Apartheid laws Anti-discriminatory (List) Fourteenth Amendment (U.S.) Civil Rights Act (U.S.) Equal Rights Amendment (U.S.)
Specific forms Nepotism · Cronyism · Classism Adultism · Linguicism Nationalism · Ethnocentrism Triumphalism Economic discrimination
Other topics Prejudice · Supremacism Eugenics · Racialism Political correctness Reverse discrimination This box: view • talk • edit

Reverse discrimination includes discriminatory policies or acts that benefit a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically women and minorities), at the expense of a historically socio-politically dominant group (typically men and majority races). Reverse discrimination is itself a form of discrimination.

Particularly in the U.S., the term is used to imply that affirmative action policies lead to under-qualified members of minority groups are being hired and promoted instead of more qualified members of majority groups. [1] [2] [3], [4], [5]. Similary, in India, the term is often used by the citizens protesting against reservation and quotas.

It is worth noting that in particular, racial quotas for collegiate admission were held to be unconstitutional in the United States, although non-quota race preferences are legal.

Many legal cases involving claims of "reverse discrimination" are settled before they go to court. [6]

1 Allegations of reverse discrimination
2 Criticism of the term itself
3 Notes
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Allegations of reverse discrimination

A more correct definition is: Reverse discrimination: A term used to describe the outcome of a racial or gender quota system where preference is given not on ability but on perceived minority status.

[edit] Criticism of the term itself

The term reverse discrimination has been criticized by advocates of Affirmative Action as casting such policies in a negative light, without due consideration of their aims.

The term is sometimes considered rhetorical, attempting to create a non-existent distinction within the broad problem of discrimination.

Some say the term, by implying reversability, suggests that there is a proper direction of discrimination. However, this may simply a misunderstanding of the symantics of the phrase. "Reverse" is referring to a reversal of the historical direction of racism, not a deviation from the "proper" direction.

[edit] Notes

The term reverse discrimination has been criticized by advocates of Affirmative Action as casting such policies in a negative light, without due consideration of their aims. Opponents of Affirmative Action and "Employment Equity", through the use of the term reverse discrimination, aim to draw attention to the victims of those policies and to the fact the policies' aims cannot be considered independently of their means.

The term is sometimes considered rhetorical, attempting to create a non-existent distinction within the broad problem of discrimination.

Some say the term, by implying reversability, suggests that there is a proper direction of discrimination. However, this may simply be a misunderstanding of the semantics of the phrase. "Reverse" is referring to a reversal of the historical direction of racism, not a deviation from the "proper" direction.

[edit] Further reading

Fred Pincus, Reverse Discrimination: Dismantling the Myth. Rienner: 2003.
Alice O'Connor, et al., The Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality: Evidence from Four Cities. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1999