even where there are adequate
statistical data on the progress of
groups that have been given preferential
treatment and often there are not
it remains a challenge to determine how
much of that progress was due to
preferential policies rather than to
other factors at work at the same time
simple before and after comparisons will
not do as that would be assuming that
nothing else had changed when in fact
the very dynamics of establishing
affirmative action programs often
reflect changes that were already
underway before group preferences began
seldom is there a stationary situation
to which a given change is added
often it was precisely the rise of newly
educated and upwardly mobile groups
which led to demands for preferential
policies
a study in bombay for example found a
marked advancement of the maharashtrians
occurred prior to the stringent policy
measures adopted by the state government
to promote preferential hiring of
indigenous maharashtrians
in part this reflected a prior enormous
growth in school enrollments in
maharashtra and a rapid expansion in
college enrollment also prior to
preferences
in malaysia as well the number of
children attending the government
secondary schools increased by 73
percent in just five years immediately
preceding the new economic policy which
expanded preferences and quotas for
melees
in sri lanka likewise there was a rapid
expansion of educational opportunities
in the sinhalese areas after
independence
and before demands for preferential
treatment of the sinhalese
a similar growth of an indigenous newly
educated class in poland czechoslovakia
and lithuania during the years between
the two world wars led to demands for
preferential policies in the form of
group quotas in order to relieve them
from having to compete on an equal plane
with jews who were already educated
experienced and established in the
positions to which the newly educated
classes were aspiring
likewise in nigeria it was the recent
growth of an educated class in the north
that led to demands for preferential
policies to relieve them from having to
compete with southern nigerians who had
predominated in universities and in many
desirable occupations
this same pattern of a rising educated
class prior to the preferential policies
that they promoted can also be found in
indonesia the quebec province of canada
and much of sub-saharan africa
in the united states the proportion of
the black population going to college
doubled in the two decades preceding the
civil rights revolution of the nineteen
sixties
and this was reflected in the
occupational rise of blacks
while it is an often cited fact that the
proportion of blacks in professional and
other high-level occupations rose
substantially in the years following
passage of the civil rights act of 1964
it is an almost totally ignored fact
that the proportion of blacks in such
occupations rose even more substantially
in the years preceding passage of the
civil rights act of 1964
dramatic progress was also evident
during these same decades in the lower
socioeconomic levels of the american
black population
the percentage of black families with
incomes below the official poverty line
fell from 87 percent in 1940 to 47
percent by 1960. all of this before the
civil rights legislation of that decade
much less the affirmative action
policies of the 1970s
between 1960 and 1970 the poverty rate
among black families dropped an
additional 17 percentage points and
after the decade of the 1970s in which
affirmative action was established the
poverty rate among blacks fell one
additional percentage point
this striking difference between the
political myth and the economic reality
has many implications
among them is that what might otherwise
be seen as a remarkable achievement by
black americans is instead seen as an
example of government beneficence and
largesse and a reason why affirmative
action is an absolute necessity for
black advancement
the effects of this misperception
include white resentments and they're
questioning why blacks cannot advance
themselves like other groups when in
fact that is what most blacks have done
incidentally it is an equally ignored
fact that the incomes of asian americans
and mexican americans rose substantially
both absolutely and relative to that of
the general population in the years
preceding passage of the civil rights
act of 1964
and its evolution into preferential
policies
any assessment of preferential policies
must take account of pre-existing trends
rather than assume a static world to
which change was added despite the
highly varied rationales for official
group preferences and quotas in
particular countries around the world
the logic of their incentives and
constraints tends to produce similar
consequences in very disparate societies
moreover both the incentives and the
consequences tend to get ignored in
political discussions of these policies
which focus on their justifications and
presumed benefits while ignoring actual
empirical results
in the united states mythical results
affirmative action as the basis for the
economic rise of blacks for example have
so completely supplanted facts that few
who discuss this policy find it
necessary to check historical evidence
at all
for some supporters of affirmative
action it is just a matter of being in
favor of helping the less fortunate with
the details being left for others to
consider and work out
however even a broad brush look at what
affirmative action programs have
actually done in various countries
reveals that a failure to achieve their
goals may be the least of the problems
created by these programs
poisonous intergroup relations and real
dangers to the fabric of society have
also been produced by affirmative action
in some societies
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