An assessment of affirmative action
Date
1999-05
Authors
Arnold, Ben
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Abstract
With many subjects in the political arena, it is often difficult for a person to stay objective. In other words, quite simply, people get passionate when exploring some political issues. Affirmative action is one of those issues that is emotionally charged.
If a good political scientist is to analyze and answer important political questions, however, he cannot fall into the trap of becoming too emotionally involved about a particular political issue. Once inside the trap, the political scientist is nothing more than an advocate. A political advocate, while searching for explanations that best fit his theory of how the world should be, will often miss important data that would, if he were completely neutral, lead him in a different direction.
When writing about an issue that is as politically intense as affirmative action, especially in a format such as this, it is hard to keep this objectiveness. This author is confident that the following is, however, in the true spirit of political science. In other words, the following study has, admittedly, produced different conclusions than the pre-conceived ideas with which this author started.
Description
Keywords
affirmative action programs, minorities, social classes, government policies
Citation
Arnold, B. (1999). An assessment of affirmative action (Unpublished thesis). Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.