Affirmative Action Helps Disadvantaged Minorities

Affirmative action is a set of policies put in place to give preferential treatment to certain subgroups such as disadvantaged minorities. For example, African Americans such as Cedric Jennings could gain access to a college even if they are slightly less qualified than a normal candidate under affirmative action. Affirmative action could also be considered a form of stratification in which we create systematic inequalities within groups of people as an intended purpose. Equality and opportunity has been debated constantly in our country over what would be the fairest for everyone despite our race or class. Affirmative action policies should benefit disadvantaged minorities because of the equality, stratification, and opportunity in our society.

Social class has been the basis for opportunity in American Society because of the benefits of higher family income. The three main classes in America are the upper class, middle class, and the poor. The upper class enjoys many benefits that neither the middle nor the poor would be able to afford. Things like private schools, tutors, and SAT prep courses would be out of the question for most middle and poor families. However, the real advantage that most upper class families have is cultural capital. Cultural capital is any resources that upper to middle class families enjoy to their advantage in various situations. This could be anything from the ability to deal with bureaucracies to a sense of entitlement. Most upper- and middle-class parents have much more involvement with their children’s education than lower-class parents. It’s not that lower-class parents don’t care about their child’s education; the fact is that most lower-class parents don’t have the time to get their child invol...

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... is something in America that is needed because not everyone starts out on the same playing field. There are advantages and disadvantages that we have to take into account. Affirmative action is what gives us that to try and make things a level playing field again.

Stratification and affirmative action policies continue to grow in our society. The goal is to gain equality in our country where everyone has the same chances and opportunities as everyone else. Really what is saying is that we should all be treated as equal human beings regardless of our race, ethnicity, or class. The fact that we aren’t equal human beings is why we need these policies to regain that equality back. The opportunities in our society present themselves in many different ways and affirmative action is just another opportunity for disadvantaged minorities to have a fighting chance in it.