Affirmative Action

Is affirmative action a problem in the United States? According to certain people it is a problem and to others it is not a problem. Employment practices involving affirmative action have been a controversial issue among the public and private human resource departments for many years. Affirmative action means positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded (Fullwinder, 2002). When those steps involve preferential selection on the basis of race, gender, and ethnicity, affirmative action generates intense controversy.
Affirmative action clearly takes an opposite approach to employment practices over the nondiscrimination approach. The nondiscrimination approach protects certain classes of people from being discriminated against on the basis of their race, gender, national origin, and religion. On the other hand, affirmative action programs offer individuals ...