| has changed since the Civil Rights movement (3, Mack, 42). It was first mentioned in Title VII, section 703(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explain the court's actions in an event of unlawful employment practice. It has become a system which is responsible for imposing quotas by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Compliance Programs. So as it is understood today, it essentially means Federal ruling pressure to cause certain preference to minorities in order to create a "balanced" atmosphere.
This modern misinterpretation by both the Government and society is highly contravertial. In an article written by Milton Gordon, "Liberal versus Corporate Pluralism" (3, Gordon), concerning the effects of this interpretation of Affirmative Action, a common side of this social debate is represented. In a meritocracy, the race, gender, age, etc. of an individual is overlooked, and thus the identification of an individual in a group is because of a desired cultural distinction. In the environment created by quotas, the individual is only seen in one such group, where there are stereotypes and classification. It is felt by a great many people, and Gordon here, that this type of "corporate pluralism, the "formal recognition by the government of the existence of racial and ethnic subgroups and the allocation of political and economic rewards on the basis of membership in such groups" (3, Gordon, 37-8), is |