Affirmative action
Affirmative action is a positive development in the sense that it is a tool for minorities to gain certain rights such as decent housing, jobs and the right to vote. This is argued extensively in Caro (2002) especially in the chapters where Senator Lyndon Johnson attempts to take on Southern segregationists who are dead against the negroe’s right to vote.
Occasionally, affirmative action can be seen to interfere with certain social mores and can also be interpreted as a disruptive influence especially in housing sitautions. There can be situations where an all white housing district is suddenly invaded by quotas for other races and that could cause a considerable amount of social disruption in the residential complex.
Busing is another issue where affirmative action is positive but can also be disruptive in situations. This occurred on quite a few occasions in Boston when school children where required to board buses without any segregation within the races and that caused consternation and confusion with inevitable strained race relations even in a Northern town.
Naturally, affirmative action when getting the right to vote is important when resistance to such measures is particularly ingrained in a society. This is esposued by the exploits of Robert Moses in the small town of Itta Bena in Mississippi Branch, (1999). Fullwinder (2002) also delves deeply into the whole gamut of affirmative action and how this can be used to better a society.
I am all in favour of affirmative action, be it in schools, places of work and getting the right to vote as it is a just and good cause which is positive and not negative.
References:
Certo, S. (2009). Modern Management: Concepts and Skills (11th edition). Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Caro R (2002) Master of the Senate, The Life of Lyndon Johnson Simon and Schuster, New York
Branch T (1999) Parting the Waters, The Life of Martin Luther King Part 1, Simon and Schuster New York
Fullinwider, Robert, "Affirmative Action", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/affirmative-action/>.
