A Marxist approach to affirmative action: Is it racism or is it diversity?

Last week, the Supreme Court decided to hear a case involving affirmative action regarding admissions at the University of Texas; an action that hints at the termination of the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision, which ruled it acceptable to take race into account in admission decision at public universities. The cessation of affirmative action in admissions would reduce the number of African American and Latino students, and increase the number of Asian and Caucasian students.

This week in my English class, we’ve examined ways to look at an argument through different lenses. I’ve learned a lot about Marxism over the week, and I’ve discovered that if we apply a Marxist lens to affirmative action, the result is a new and deeper understanding of affirmative action.

Affirmative action officially began in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson hoped to solve socioeconomic imbalances by creating policies that would reduce ethnic tensions and endorse diversity in the education system. The idea behind Johnson’s executive order 11246 was that it would counter the effects of a history of discrimination.

Traditionally, supporters of affirmative action say that it makes things fairer and offers diversity, while opponents argue that you are using racial discrimination to compensate for a history of racial discrimination and there should be no such thing as ‘racial privileges’. But, what Marxists hope to answer is how these ‘socioeconomic balances’ developed in the first place. Marxism helps us look at the root of the affirmative action debate. At its source, affirmative action is simply the shadow of age-old competing values and competing economic classes. As this blog states, “These material conflicts are recast in terms of a clash of values, between social justice and individual responsibility”.

Marxists look at issues in terms of class struggle, and how affirmative action works to improve the plight of the underrepresented minorities and by offering diversity, promotes race equality and encourages political mobilization.

Centuries of struggle between majorities and minorities have produced legislative measures and executive orders that attempt to alleviate the differences between the two varying groups; affirmative action is one example of these measures.

From a Marxist point of view, affirmative action is about sacrificing independent effort in the name of equality. There is a culture clash in the United States that has resulted in ethnic discrimination; affirmative action is the path to unwind years of this inexactitude.

So readers, I hope seeing the affirmative action debate through a Marxist interpretation has shown you not only another side of affirmative action, but also about class struggle and ethnic differences in general. Do you support covert approaches, like affirmative action, to combat ongoing unconscious racism or is there a different way? Could the Marxist’s be on to something, here?
To learn more about affirmative action in the Supreme Court, click here