The term reverse discrimination is used to describe the act of an individual showing favours to members of minority groups who have been poorly treated or discriminated against in the past (Lippert-Rasmussen, 2020). In reverse discrimination, individual in popular and majority groups who in most cases, get favoured by the majority of the people are discriminated against or are subjected to unfair treatment. Over the years, many people in the society have been mistreated in several places including at school, mall or their workplaces because they possess a specific particular characteristic which sets them apart from others. Such unique characteristics include; age, gender orientation, marriages and partnerships, racial profile, pregnancy, religious beliefs and sexual orientation.
Several scenarios can be used to illustrate reverse discrimination properly. Such scenarios include; the minority group mistreats a group of people who are seen as very disadvantaged in a given place of work discriminating against a colleague who identifies typically with the group that delivers the most discrimination to them, this individual because of his involvement with the majority group in the workplace. Another excellent example of reverse discrimination is when a robber attacks a given house and starts claims that the victims of the robbery should make allowance for his disabilities. An employer in a particular company can demonstrate reverse discrimination by choosing to give the vacancies to disabled people to bring diversity at work. Recently, cases of racial discrimination have been overly dominant in the United States of America. Research indicates that the most discriminated on a group of people in the United States of America and a larger part of Europe are people of African American descent. Black Americans have continued to be discriminated against due to the colour of their skin. And have been looked upon as disadvantaged members of society because of this. However, they have come together to form human right groups and movements that fight for their rights. During several attempts to speak against these acts of racial profiling by their oppressors, they have united with other people of colour living in America such as the Latin Americans. The latter is also a disadvantaged group of people facing racial discrimination as well. However, the black community has discriminated against the advantaged races in the society which hardly have to deal with discrimination because they receive a lot of favours due to their skin colour. A manager in a specific company may choose to give a top promotion to a young employee who is discriminated against at work by his older colleagues because of his young age. The young employee is seen to be in a disadvantaged position by other people at work who may claim that he lacks experience. Therefore, it will be an act of reverse discrimination when the manager chooses him for a promotion at work, leaving out older employees. They are seen to have an advantage over him due to their old age and experience.
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Many instances show different forms of reverse discrimination depending on the people and circumstances involved in those situations. However, all these instances have something in common which is the fact that the minority groups that is seen to be at a disadvantage gets treated well and receives favour over a majority group is at an advantage. Reverse discrimination is like the act of giving of stripping off the advantage from the majority group and giving it to the minority group in a bid to establish a certain balance.
It is essential to study the history and origin of reverse discrimination to fully understand its concept and impacts on the lives of the majority and minority as well. The history of reverse discrimination dates way back in ancient America, where there existed several segregation laws that were used by the white race to discriminate against the black community. The oppressors viewed black people as undesirable and inferior to them, and the existence of segregation laws further ensured that the black community had no power in politics and political decisions and put them at the mercy of the majority groups who had a say in political matters. Due to the lack of political presentation, African Americans were brutalized on countless incidents. Because of these brutal attacks to the black community, a civil war which was an attempt by black Americans to fight against discrimination erupted. After the civil war, the law of segregation was abolished, and this signified a new era in racial relations and interactions.
In the late nineteenth century, American activists and human rights movements came up with law and regulation to try and create a level field of opportunities to those members of the society. The latter was in a historically disadvantaged position because of factors like race, gender, age, and religion and skin colour, among other factors. These laws and policies were first created by executive order and signed by the American president by the name of John F. Kennedy in the year 1961. He referred to these policies like affirmative action, and they were to help in implementing reverse discrimination. John F. Kennedy urged all government employees to take affirmative action by ensuring that all employees and job applicants in the United States of America receive equal treatment and employment opportunities. And that they are not discriminated against due to their unpopular orientations.
In recent times, a lot of critics have come out to fight against affirmative action and have continued to champion for its abolishment. These critics have argued that earlier actions of discrimination and segregation that was so prevalent in the United States of America during the nineteenth century had now seized to exist in modern America. According to their argument, these ancient practices of discrimination were responsible for the making and implementation of affirmative action. Therefore, these policies and regulations of affirmative action were no longer required in the modern-day world. The critic of affirmative action point out the fact that it is wrong to hand an opportunity to an individual on the grounds of membership in a protected group or class rather than considering their academic qualification, such a case can be unproductive thus causing low productivity in the society. Despite the efforts of these critics to abolish affirmative action, other disadvantaged members of society feel that it remains necessary in the modern world because cases of discrimination of the minority people still exist in high numbers. Therefore, members of the minority still feel that they would be negatively affected if affirmative action was abolished (Golland, 2011).
Reverse discrimination continues to be applied in the modern-day world by top world organizations and companies causing is to receive support from the minority people it favours as well as opposition by those that feel that its application has unfair consequences them. An example of a large organization that has applied reverse discrimination in its recent operations is Google. An information technology expert by the name of Arne Walberg went ahead to sue Google for what she termed as discrimination. In his lawsuit, he alleged that Google was favouring women and the minorities during its hiring processes. He alleged that Google openly discriminated against the white and Asian men who were considered as the majority in this line of work. He further stated that Google’s operation policies had conditions that discriminated against white men. And that the company's administration promoted practices that offered extra interview opportunities to women and the minority job applicants and also streamlined their hiring process, making it more straightforward for them to receive employment. Other lawsuits citing discrimination at the workplace have continued being reported making the employment sector than most affected by wars and cases of reverse discrimination. Such lawsuits of work discrimination have been in existence for decades and continue to increase with the increase in industrialization. Human resource managers and top administration of big companies have engaged themselves in studies the study of discrimination to understand better what practices are acceptable or unacceptable in the workplace. Current circumstances demand that corporate bosses should understand how to treat employees and how employment opportunities should be distributed to applicants to keep all employees satisfied and also to maintain diversity at the workplace without favouring a specific group of individuals over the other. By keeping up to date with all these discrimination policies and regulations, they can avoid lawsuits against the by employees or job applicant.
In another example of a lawsuit stating reverse discrimination, A white male employee complains that. Females and non-white employees were being given a lot of second chances for offences committed at work before being terminated, which was Unlike their white male counterparts who were receiving an abrupt dismissal for the slightest issue with their performance at work. He states that employers should not be afraid to take the necessary disciplinary action against an employee who has committed an offence just because he belongs to a particular race or minority group. Employers should not give an employee an advantage over others based on his demographic because doing so will be unfair to other employees (Kampen, 2020).
Reverse discrimination has its equal share of advantages and disadvantages which are worth looking. The advantages include; it evens out the playfield making it possible for people who come from marginalized or unstable countries with zero opportunities to be able to advance and succeed in other places which would have been impossible without reverse discrimination policies. Reverse discrimination helps to compensate for the fact that some races experienced civilization late than others because of factors like slavery and oppressions; this way, it evens out the playing field for everyone. Also, diversity can now be achieved at workplaces and schools, which helps to create Torre lance between different communities and their cultures.
The disadvantages of reverse discrimination include the fact that it discriminates against majority groups on the basis that they discriminated against minorities in the early years of ancients America. Every human being deserves fair treatment regardless of their status in the community. The other disadvantage is that it puts race as the main factor during hiring processes instead of grading applicants based on their qualifications despite their race. Students and workers who are put in a specific position because of their race may fail to perform because he might not be best suited for that position.
References
Golland, D. H. (2011). Affirmative action and equal employment opportunity. Constructing Affirmative Action , 170-183. https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813129976.003.0007
Kampen, J. V. (2020, February 4). ‘Reverse discrimination’ lawsuits becoming an increasing concern . Van Kampen Law. https://www.ncemploymentattorneys.com/news/reverse-discrimination-lawsuits-are-concerning/
Lippert-Rasmussen, K. (2020). Reverse discrimination. Making Sense of Affirmative Action , 159-172. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190648787.003.0008
