Born free and equal? : a philosophical inquiry into the nature of discrimination

"What is discrimination? There are certain instances of differential treatment that almost anyone would describe as discriminatory; yet upon deeper examination, this near-unanimity gives way to disagreement and difference. For instance, is it discrimination when hospitals hire non-smokers only? Not only do people differ on which cases of differential treatment they see as discriminatory, they also disagree about when discrimination is morally wrong; what makes it morally wrong; and, indeed, about whether all forms of discrimination are morally wrong! Finally, many disagree over what should be done about wrongful discrimination--especially about what the state could permissibly do to eliminate wrongful discrimination, e.g. in people's love lives. This book addresses these issues. It argues that there are different concepts of discrimination and that different purposes pertaining to different contexts determine which one is the most useful. It gives special attention to a concept of discrimination that ties discrimination to differential treatment of people on the basis of their membership in socially salient groups. Second, it argues that when discrimination is wrong, it is so first and foremost because of its harmful effects. Third, it takes issue with some of the standard devices used to counteract discrimination and submits that combating discrimination requires more than state actions. Finally, it argues that states may sometimes permissibly discriminate."--Jacket Content: Introduction 1. The questions 2. The approach 3. Overview of the book Part I: The concept of discrimination Chapter 1: What is discrimination? 1. Introduction 2. Discrimination in the generic sense 3. Irrelevance discrimination 4. The moralized concept of discrimination 5. Group discrimination 6. Social salience 7. Because 8. Treatment 9. Summary Appendix 1: Methodology Appendix 2: Discrimination skeptics: Oppression and dominance Chapter 2: Indirect discrimination 1. The distinction between direct and indirect discrimination 2. Altman's definition 3. The no-intention condition 4. The disadvantage condition 5. The disproportionateness condition 6. Sufficient for indirect discrimination? 7. Direct vs. indirect discrimination 8. Conclusion Appendix 1: Some other definitions of indirect discrimination Appendix 2: Institutional and structural discrimination Chapter 3: Statistical discrimination 1. Introduction 2. Statistical discrimination vs. non-statistical discrimination 3. Direct vs. indirect, statistical discrimination 4. What statistical discrimination is not 5. Conclusion Appendix: Genetic discrimination and social salience Part II: The wrongness of discrimination Chapter 4: Mental state based accounts 1. Introduction 2. Some common accounts 3. Mental states and permissibility 4. Different mental state accounts 5. Alexander on disrespect and discrimination: The falsehood account 6. Alexander on disrespect and discrimination: The comparative falsehood account 7. Alexander on disrespect and discrimination: The irrational, comparative falsehood account 8. Conclusion Chapter 5: Objective meaning accounts 1. Introduction 2. Hellman's account: Demeaning others 3. Some challenges to Hellman's account 4. Scanlon on racial discrimination and the meaning of actions 5. An important ambiguity 6. Some worries about Scanlon's account 7. The moral distinctiveness of discrimination based on judgments of inferiority 8. Conclusion Chapter 6: Harm-based accounts 1. Introduction 2. The essentials of the harm-based account 3. The baseline issue 4. The metric of harm 5. Some challenges to the harm-based account 6. A desert-prioritarian account 7. Some objections 8. A test case: Moral wrongness of indirect discrimination 9. Conclusion Appendix: Moreau on deliberative freedom and discrimination Part III: Neutralizing discrimination Chapter 7: Discrimination and the aim of proportional representation 1. Introduction 2. The Simple View and ambition-sensitivity 3. The Counterfactual, Holistic View 4. Which counterfactual scenario? 5. Is absence of discrimination necessary for suitable representation? 6. Second-best representational aims 7. Conclusion Chapter 8: Discrimination in punishment 1. Introduction 2. Loci of legal discrimination 3. Criteria vs. indicators of discrimination 4. The pure discrimination case 5. The no-complaint argument 6. Conclusion Chapter 9: Reaction qualifications 1. Introduction 2. Discounting qualifications based on illegitimate preferences 3. Refining meritocracy 4. Illegitimate preferences not disadvantaging targeted groups 5. Respect and reaction qualifications 6. Conclusion Chapter 10: Discrimination in the private sphere 1. Introduction 2. A legal duty to engage in wrongful private discrimination 3. A legal right to engage in wrongful private discrimination 4. A legal duty not to engage in wrongful private discrimination 5. A legal duty or permission to engage in private discrimination that is not wrongful 6. A legal duty not to engage in private discrimination that is not wrongful 7. Conclusion Chapter 11: Racial profiling 1. Introduction 2. A right to be treated as an individual 3. Unequal treatment 4. Unfairness 5. The making of statistical facts and the justifiability of statistical discrimination 6. Putting the argument to the interpersonal test 7. Non-comprehensively justified? 8. Challenges 9. Conclusion Bibliography Index This text addresses these three issues: What is discrimination? What makes it wrong?; What should be done about wrongful discrimination? It argues that there are different concepts of discrimination; that discrimination is not always morally wrong and that when it is, it is so primarily because of its harmful effects. Abstract: This book addresses these three issues: What is discrimination?; What makes it wrong?; What should be done about wrongful discrimination? It argues: that there are different concepts of discrimination; that discrimination is not always morally wrong and that when it is, it is so primarily because of its harmful effects. Read more...