Chapter 13: Equality and Discrimination

According to a special report by the New York Times in 2012,

"Low-income students with above-average scores on eighth grade tests have a college graduation rate of 26 percent—lower than more affluent students with worse test scores. Thirty years ago, there was a 31 percentage point difference in the share of affluent and poor students who earned a college degree. Now the gap is 45 points."

Issues of multiculturalism also could be raised with regard to the principle of equality.

-Americans live in a complex society in which there are many forms of cultural expression and heritage. -To what extent should individuals' distinct cultural backgrounds and traditions be acknowledged and encouraged? Sometimes, respect for such cultural practices would lead to the condoning of gender inequality and discrimination. -The challenge raised here is a variety of the paradox of toleration. -Do those groups that deny the principle of equality deserve to be treated equally? Do groups who do not treat their own members equally deserve to be treated equally?

Example characteristics:

-Consider height. Men are typically taller than women. Nevertheless, some women are taller than some men. Even if women were typically more nurturing than men, it would still be possible that some men would be more nurturing than some women. -Thus, it would seem that we ought to consider what characteristics an individual has rather than what is typical of the group to which he or she belongs. This would only seem to be fair or just.

Are we ever justified in treating someone differently because of his or her membership in a particular demographic and because of that group's typical characteristics—even if he or she does not possess them? We do this in some cases and presumably think it is just.

-Consider our treatment of people as members of an age group, say, for purposes of driving or voting. We have rules that require that a person must be at least fifteen years old to obtain a driver's permit or license. Of course, it is true that some individuals who are fourteen would be better drivers than some individuals who are eighteen. Yet we judge them on the basis of a group characteristic, rather than their individual abilities. -Similarly, in the United States, we require that people be eighteen years of age before they can vote. However, some people who are younger than eighteen would be more intelligent voters than some who are older than eighteen.

In addition to determining which characteristics or skills are relevant to a particular position, we must be able to assess adequately whether particular persons possess these characteristics or skills.

-Designing such assessments presents a difficulty, as prejudice may play a role in designing or evaluating them. -For instance, how do we know whether someone works well with people or has sufficient knowledge of the issues that ought to be treated in a women's studies course? -This raises a broader issue. Should we always test or judge people as individuals, or is it ever permissible to judge an individual as a member of a particular group?

Employment statistics

-In 2010, with the economy in recession, the black unemployment rate stood at 16 percent, Hispanic unemployment at 12.5 percent, Asian unemployment at 7.5 percent, and white unemployment at 8.7 percent. -According to 2011 data, white Americans have, on average, twenty-two times more wealth than blacks and fifteen times more wealth than Hispanics.

Challenges to the principle of equality

-One significant problem for the principle of equality stems from the fact that those group differences that are both real and relevant to differential treatment are often, if not always, average differences. -In other words, a characteristic may be typical of a group of people, but it may not belong to every member of the group.

Another challenge to the principle of equality, or to its application, can be found in the debates over preferential treatment programs.

-Preferential treatments would be designed to benefit those who are members of groups that have been discriminated against in the past. The idea here is that being a member of a group is a sufficient reason to treat someone in a special way. -Would we need to show that every member of that group was in some way harmed or affected by past discrimination? Some individual members of particular groups would not obviously have been harmed by past discrimination. However, we should also be aware of the complicated ways in which group or community membership affects a person and the subtle ways in which he or she might thus be harmed.

One significant recent example is the decision to allow women to serve in combat roles in the American military.

-Prior to this decision, the military careers of women were limited because of a "brass ceiling": high-level military jobs tend to go to soldiers with combat experience. Proponents of combat roles for women argue that now individual women will have the opportunity to be judged on merit and ability, and not merely on their membership in a group. -As former Army Capt. Tanya L. Domi concludes, "With this momentous shift, America once again reaffirms its core values of equality and respect—values predicated upon a person's capabilities and demonstrated competence, not an immutable characteristic like gender. This is good for our military, and our country too."

Justice

-The principle of equality is a principle of justice. It tells us that certain actions or practices that treat people unequally are unjust. -For instance, consider our symbolic representations of justice. A statue of Lady Justice stands outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. where she is depicted as blindfolded and holding a scale in one hand. The idea here is that justice is blind—in other words, it is not biased. It does not favor one person over another on the basis of irrelevant characteristics. The same laws are supposed to apply to all. The scale suggests that justice need not involve strict equality but must be proportional. It requires that treatment of persons be according to what is due to them on some grounds. Therefore, it requires that there be valid reasons for differential treatment.

Proof and reality of difference

-The principle of equality states that we must show or prove that certain differences exist if we are to justify treating people differently. The principle can be stronger or weaker depending on the kind of proof of differences required by it. -For example, scientific studies of sex differences must be provided to show that certain sex differences actually exist, if we are to allow for differential treatment based on sex. -The principle of equality requires that we show or prove that actual differences exist between the people whom we would treat differently.

Social benefits and harms

-We are not required to justify treating people differently from others in every case. -For example, I may give personal favors to my friends or family and not to others without having to give a reason. -However, sometimes social policies and practices treat people differently in ways that harm some and benefit others.

Consider the correlation between ethnicity, race, and SAT scores.

-White students earned on average (in 2012) 527 on the verbal section, 536 on the mathematics section, and 515 on the writing section. -Black students earned 428 (verbal), 428 (math), and 417 (writing). -Similar disparities exist for Hispanic and Native American students.

Outcomes include:

-a dropout rate for African American college students that is substantially higher than for white students. -The six-year college graduation rates by race—as calculated in 2011—were white students (62 percent), Hispanic students (50 percent), and black and American Indian/Alaska Native students (39 percent each). -Black and Hispanic youth also drop out of high school at a higher rate than white youth. In 2010, the high school dropout rates were white (5.1 percent), Hispanic (8.0 percent), and black (15.1 percent).

Travis Dixon

-an expert on stereotypes in the media, concludes, "African Americans typically occupy roles as poor people, loud politicians, and criminals on network news." -conducted a related study, in which he examined how attitudes about crime and race correspond to media viewing habits. -concludes that "exposure to Blacks' overrepresentation as criminals on local news programming was positively related to the perception of Blacks as violent."

Other forms of discrimination

-gender -physical and mental -age -lgbtq+ -religious

Structural/institutional racism

-idea that social structures are constituted in ways that create disparate racial outcomes. -It is more difficult to see institutional or structural oppression because we often take social structures for granted. -nonbiased individuals may be working within a system that produces racially biased outcomes. These individuals may not be racist themselves—even if the system or institution produces undeserved unequal outcomes.

Relevant differences examples:

-if it could be shown that women are by nature better at bricklaying than men, then this would be a "real" difference between them. Although we might then be justified in preferring women for bricklaying jobs, we would not be justified in using this difference to prefer women for the job of airline pilot -if men and women think differently and if certain jobs require these particular thinking skills, then according to the principle of equality we may well prefer those individuals with these skills for the jobs. -We might also prefer different people for bona fide reasons, such as hiring men to model male swimsuits and women to model female swimsuits. -What counts as a bona fide reason will depend on the context.

Prejudice

-is making judgments or forming beliefs before knowing the truth about something or someone. -the negative connotation of the term prejudice indicates that these beliefs or judgments are formed without adequate information and are also mistaken. -in this context also may be a matter of judging an individual on the basis of stereotypical characteristics of a group to which he or she belongs.

Sex differences confirmed by empirical studies:

-metabolic rate, strength and size, hearing acuity, shoulder structure, and disease susceptibility. -However, it is unlikely that these differences would be relevant for any differential social treatment. -More relevant would be differences such as certain types of intellectual ability, aggressiveness, or nurturing capacity.

Implicit bias

-unconscious prejudices and attitudes, based upon stereotypical ideas, which affect our judgments and behaviors without conscious awareness. -It is not that those of us who are implicitly biased (and there is a good chance that we all harbor implicit biases) are lying or denying our biases and prejudices. Rather, the biases are often unconscious, and well-meaning individuals may not be aware of their own racial (and other) biases.

Racism

-unjust use of racial or ethnic categories to classify individuals and distribute social benefits and harms. -sets people of one race apart from people of other races, leading to demarcations between "us" and "them" and the construction of unequal or hierarchical social conditions. -involves not only making distinctions and grouping people, but also denigration. It involves beliefs that all persons of a certain race are inferior to persons of other races in some way. -appears to be unjust to individuals not just because such generalizations are typically false, but also because individuals do not choose their own parents or racial heritage and cannot change their external appearance

Critical race theory

A theoretical analysis of race and racism that questions the status of racial categories, the application of norms of equality, and the presence of structural or institutional racism.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

EEOC employees are protected by federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, family medical history, or genetic information. Moreover, consistent with Presidential Executive Orders and other laws designed to protect federal employees, we must vigilantly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, parental status, marital status, political affiliation, military service, or any other non-merit based factor.

Consider this issue in the context of education:

Education is often thought of as the great equalizer and the hope of the less fortunate. However, educational outcomes are often strikingly unequal in the United States. Poorer schools in urban, minority neighborhoods typically have lower standardized test scores and lower graduation rates than affluent, largely white schools in the suburbs.

Recent discoveries have shown that men and women use different parts of their brains to do the same tasks.

For example, to recognize whether nonsense words rhyme, men use a tiny area in the front left side of the brain, whereas women use a comparable section of the right side.

We might look to scientific studies of sex differences to help us determine whether any such possibly relevant sex differences exist.

For example, women have been found to do better on tests that measure verbal speed, and men have been found to do better at being able to imagine what an object would look like if it were rotated in three-dimensional space.

Outlaw's standpoint

Indeed, from this point of view, oppressed racial groups may benefit from affirming their own racial identity, which may help solidify social power in the struggle for equal treatment. From this standpoint, to deny the importance of race is to ignore the reality of struggles for equality in the world

The principle of equality can be formulated in various ways. Consider the following formulation:

It is unjust to treat people differently in ways that deny to some of them significant social benefits unless we can show that there is a difference between them that is relevant to the differential treatment.

However, if real and relevant sex differences existed, and if we treated all members of one sex alike on the basis of some typical group characteristic, rather than on the basis of their characteristics as individuals, then this would involve both significant costs and significant unfairness

It would be of great social cost to society not to consider applicants or candidates because of their sex; these individuals might otherwise make great contributions to society. In addition, those who are denied consideration could rightly complain that it was unfair to deny them a chance at a position for which they qualified, something that would also affect them their whole lives.

A different problem for the principle concerns the problem of managing natural and cultural differences.

Recall that over the past centuries, women have sought equality with men in the workplace, in education, and in public life generally. At the same time, they remain the primary child care providers in most families, which places them at an inevitable disadvantage in terms of advancement in many professions. -As a result, some feminists have argued that the liberal notion of equality can be detrimental to women because it fails to take gender-specific circumstances into account. -Perhaps differences between males and females in such areas as parental responsibilities would be relevant to the justness of requirements for professional advancement. Perhaps women should be treated differently in ways that allow them to fulfill the responsibilities of breast-feeding and child care. -Other feminists point out that if men took an equal share of child care, such differential treatment would not be required, except with regard to such things as pregnancy and childbirth.

The studies of aggressiveness

Testosterone has been shown to increase size and strength, but whether it also makes males more aggressive than females is disputed. This dispute arises not only because of the difficulties we have in tracing physical causation, but also because of our uncertainty about just what we mean by aggressiveness.

Relevant differences

The principle of equality requires more than proving that innate or real differences exist between groups of people before we are justified in treating them differently. It also requires that the differences be relevant.

Social policies about voting and driving are based on generalizations about age cohorts.

Those who agree to the policies resulting from these generalizations most likely do so for utilitarian reasons; these policies tend to produce good outcomes for most of us.

Primary discrimination

a person is singled out and directly penalized simply because he or she is a member of a particular group, as when denied school admissions or promotions just because of this characteristic.

Human species' races'

anthropologists have classified the human species into anywhere from six to eighty races. Thus, any strictly biological definition of race is seriously flawed.

Racial stereotypes

are based upon generalizations about groups. These generalizations treat different people in groups as if they were all alike. And they may foster divisive competition among groups and their members.

These racially disparate outcomes

are most likely not caused by racist teachers. Rather, they are the result of a variety of social structures. One of these structures may be social class and income level.

Lucius Outlaw Jr.

argues that race is not merely a social construction. Outlaw points out that genetic differences exist, which help explain morphological difference, and that these differences are actually created in part by cultural practices (such as marriage and reproduction practices, which have often been racially exclusive). Building upon his interpretation of the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, Outlaw argues that the existence of cultural, historical, and biological groupings should not be denied or neglected. Outlaw suggests, race "continues to be a major fulcrum of struggles over the distribution and exercise of power."

Secondary discrimination

criteria for benefit or harm are used that do not directly apply to members of particular groups and only indirectly affect them.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

explicitly states that its goal is to "provide relief from discrimination" and to "prevent discrimination" in public and federally funded programs and institutions.

A poll conducted by the Associated Press in October 2012

found that 51 percent of Americans were willing to express explicitly anti-black attitudes. This is up from 48 percent four years ago.

Principle of equality

idea that we should treat equal things in equal ways and that we ought to treat different things in unequal ways.

The challenges to the principle of equality mentioned

indicate that while the principle of equality is an important one, it is not always clear how it is to be applied in practice.

The problem with education:

is not typically that teachers or administrators are racist. Rather, the problem may be that present (and past) institutions have been set up in ways that reinforce disparate outcomes.

The policy "last hired, first fired"

is often likely to have a discriminatory effect. Such a policy may seem harmless but can actually have a harmful effect on certain groups—particularly if these groups, such as women or blacks, have traditionally been excluded from a particular profession.

Another problem with genetic accounts of race

is that human populations across the globe do not vary that much from one another genetically. As one important study concludes, "the major stereotypes, all based on skin color, hair color and form, and facial traits, reflect superficial differences that are not confirmed by deeper analysis with more reliable genetic traits and whose origin dates from recent evolution mostly under the effect of climate and perhaps sexual selection."

One problem with genetic accounts of race

is that human populations have rarely been isolated in ways that would limit genetic intermingling. Indeed, even if we were able to isolate populations in this way, there would be substantial overlap among the supposedly different races, and individuals within a given racial or ethnic group show substantial genetic variation.

Kwame Anthony Appiah

maintains that the idea of firm and essential differences among the races is false. Appiah uses the term racialism to describe the problematic notion that there are firm distinctions among races. Appiah argues that the superficial characteristics that people use to distinguish among the races are merely skin deep and not tied to a deeper essential difference.

Social construct

racial categories are ideas made up for social purposes, which are not clearly grounded in hard and fast natural distinctions.

Discrimination

to treat someone unfairly and unequally based upon racial, ethnic, gender, or other identity claims (not to be confused with discrimination in just war theory).