Arguing Affirmative Action/What's The Purpose?

Justice • Season 1 • Episode 9

About this episode

Students discuss the pros and cons of affirmative action. Should we try to correct for inequality in educational backgrounds by taking race into consideration? Should we compensate for historical injustices such as slavery and segregation? Is the argument in favor of promoting diversity a valid one? How does it size up against the argument that a student’s efforts and achievements should carry more weight than factors that are out of his or her control and therefore arbitrary? When a university’s stated mission is to increase diversity, is it a violation of rights to deny a white person admission? Sandel introduces Aristotle and his theory of justice. He believes that justice is about giving people their due, what they deserve.