affirmative action
222
4.7
- noun
- /əˈfɜːrmətɪv ˈækʃən/
- US
:
acción afirmativa (EE. UU.)
- Why, advocates of affirmative action now ask, should their number not be augmented?
- affirmative action policies
- an affirmative action program
- affirmative action plan
That's going to, I believe to declare affirmative action in state schools unconstitutional.
- That's going to, I believe to declare affirmative action in state schools unconstitutional.
- No, because no one wants a Doctor Who got there by affirmative action.
- But it did signal very clearly, in fact, I think, that the days for affirmative action are numbered.
- Again, there was a black middle class before affirmative action.
- It's about to overrule the affirmative action.
- Could you, you know, quickly kind of what is the case against affirmative action that you put forward?
- So if you think about affirmative action, is in which ways is affirmative action empowering?
- I'm a beneficiary of affirmative action.
- So they say this levels the playing field, Affirmative action levels the playing field, but they have next to nothing to say for affirmative action for rich white people.
- So going back to affirmative action, you know, the it's being overturned, as you say, on this premise of false color blindness.
- Any policy of any scope from affirmative action to gun laws to abortion laws is going to have some winners and losers.
- Is that part of our affirmative action world?
Examples
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Such a proviso would seem to allow for the implementation of affirmative action plans to remedy past discrimination.
Academic text (1990) -
But before all else, it's worth asking whether affirmative action is really needed.
Academic text (2011) -
But why should private institutions and their leaders continue to carry the banner of affirmative action?
Academic text (2011) -
A large proportion of students benefiting from affirmative action benefit from financial aid.
Academic text (2011) -
One of the first things Nixon did when he took office in 1969 was to introduce America's first affirmative action program.
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Consider the foot-race analogy made by President Lyndon Johnson when he argued for affirmative action and compensatory education.
Academic text (2011) -
Many universities have implemented affirmative action policies to promote diversity among their students.
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The company's affirmative action plan aims to increase employment opportunities for historically underrepresented groups.
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Supporters argue that affirmative action helps level the playing field for individuals who have faced discrimination.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'affirmative' (positive/approving) and 'action' (a policy or measure), so a learner might infer it refers to a positive policy or measure, but the specific sense — policies to remedy historical unfairness by giving opportunities to disadvantaged groups — is a specialised socio-political meaning not fully predictable from the parts. Cross-linguistic cognates exist (e.g. Spanish 'acción afirmativa'), which can cue the general idea, but the precise remedial/policy nuance requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Affirmative action began in the 1960s when governments decided to take clear, positive steps to help groups who had been treated unfairly. The words affirmative ('positive') and action ('steps') give the image of actively helping people who were left out, so today it means 'policies to give more opportunities' to those groups.