Does the perception of discrimination mitigate justice-based opposition to affirmative action?

Abstract

When faced with high levels of workplace discrimination, how do people with strong justice values evaluate affirmative action programs that violate their cherished justice principles? In previous research (Bobocel, Song Hing, Davey, Stanley, & Zanna, 1998; Davey, Bobocel, Son Hing, & Zanna, 1999; Son Hing, 1997), we found that people with strong justice values (e.g., those who strongly endorse the merit principle) tend to oppose affirmative action programs that violate those justice principles. For instance, the more people value meritocracy, the more they oppose a preferential treatment program that allows a target-group member to be hired over a more qualified White male. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate whether people with strong justice values still oppose affirmative action when they perceive high levels of discrimination to exist against the potential beneficiaries of programs (e.g., women and visible minorities).

In line with earlier research, I expect participants' justice values to predict opposition to affirmative action among those who perceive little workplace discrimination. I expect justice-based opposition to affirmative action to be mitigated, however, among those who perceive high levels of workplace discrimination. This mitigation hypothesis derives primarily from the expectation that greater perceptions of discrimination will result in reduced opposition to affirmative action particularly for those with strong justice values. I argue that workplace discrimination can be conceptualized as a form of justice violation. Thus, people who strongly value justice should be most offended by discrimination. Consequently, they should reduce their opposition to affirmative action.

Three studies were run to investigate opposition to a preferential treatment program. Participants were undergraduate students ostensibly responding to a corporate survey on affirmative action. Results support the mitigation hypothesis when investigating both (a) participants' pre-existing perceptions of workplace discrimination, and (b) experimentally manipulated perceptions of discrimination. In addition, results are consistent with the notion that construal of the program as justice violating/restoring is the mediating mechanism for both the justice and discrimination effects. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.