The affirmative action ouroboros

Here I argue that affirmative action is similar to the ancient symbol of the ouroboros, which depicts a snake eating its own tail. Similarly, I contend, the mere existence of affirmative action creates an argument, in the minds of many, against the need for its own continued existence.

What I mean is as follows: the existence of affirmative action and other race-conscious policies creates the appearance that not only are minorities (non-whites and women) not being discriminated against anymore, but in fact white men are the victims of institutional discrimination due to these policies. Hence, these policies create the appearance that discrimination against historically marginalized groups has not just ended but the pendulum has swung significantly in the other direction, because of course companies have an incentive to make themselves look good by publicizing their diversity efforts. This, in turn, makes it seem like because widespread discrimination against non-white people and/or women is no longer present in the United States, policies are no longer needed to address it.

This could help to explain why white Americans now believe there is more discrimination against them than there is against black Americans. Such a view is rooted in what are known as “status-legitimizing beliefs”, or SLBs: the ideas that the current social hierarchy in one’s society is legitimate, just, and meritocratic. Therefore, any change to this hierarchy is seen as unfair and thus discriminatory against whoever is at the top. Accordingly, priming white people with SLBs has been found to lead to greater zero-sum beliefs (the idea that one group’s gains must come at the expense of another group) and greater opposition to affirmative action.