Jump to Content Jump to Main Navigation
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]

Affirmative Action

Inês Espinhaço Gomes

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]
Article last updated:
May 2020

From: Oxford Constitutions (http://oxcon.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 11 December 2024

Subject(s):
Gender discrimination — Equality regardless of race — Equality — Affirmative action — Racial discrimination — Ethnic minorities

General Editors: Rainer Grote, Frauke Lachenmann, Rüdiger Wolfrum
Managing Editor: Martina Mantovani

1 Affirmative action usually refers to laws, practices, and policies that aim at bringing members of an underrepresented group to a higher level of participation (Greenawalt 17). Its purpose may be seen from two perspectives: either backward-looking affirmative action as a means to compensate past discrimination (deontological arguments), or forward-looking affirmative action as a way of building a better future (utilitarian arguments) (Stroud 386). Hence, affirmative action may either redress past or actual disadvantages faced by some groups of people on the...
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Please subscribe, or log in via the Sign in panel on the left of this screen to access all subscribed content.