In the UK it's more commonly known as "positive discrimination".
At mildest, it's saying that if you have two equally qualified candidates, you should select the one that will make you more closely reflect the general demographics.
Say there are 20% whites in a society. A university receives 20 white applicants and 180 black applicants for a course with 100 places. The applicants all have the same qualifications.
If choosing randomly, you'd end up with (about) 10 white and 90 black on the course. Under affirmative action you'd get 20 white and 80 black.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Can you explain what you mean by "affirmative action", please? It's an expression that I'm not familiar with.
Thanks  |