Discrimination and Affirmative Action - Assignment Example

According to the utilitarian consideration of employment and discrimination, every individual should be given equivalent chances at employment; therefore, discrimination in the hiring process should be discouraged.

With the prevalence of discrimination against minorities in society, affirmative action is seen as the redeeming factor, with the introduction of the Disabled Veterans Affirmative Action Program (DVAAP) to serve the rights of disabled people (FHWA, 2004). Affirmative action in this case refers to the series that seek to redress the injustices faced by minorities in society and can involve laws or social programs that promote the justice of minorities (ACLU, 2011). Other affirmative action programs are those that involve women or minorities in society, and in comparison with the DVAAP, these action programs can be concluded to be just as effective. Affirmative action programs consider all the rights of minorities in society, and the main consideration is given to the disabled, women, and minorities in society.

The Utilitarian View of an affirmative action program is that all people in society are entitled to equal rights, despite their disabilities or qualifications. According to the view, affirmative action programs guarantee that all individuals in the society are given the chance to progress and give the chance to all members of the society to progress equally. This is done by considering that the community functions as a whole, therefore, the parts of the community that pulls back the development process should be helped. From the definition of the utilitarian affirmative process, it can be concluded that the DVAAP is a program that should be kept up in society.

Conversely, the deontological considerations of affirmative action programs dictate that the most qualified person for the job should be hired, regardless of their disabilities or minority effect. This means that the discrimination factor is not considered by the deontological perspective; instead, the perspective gives priority to the qualifications of the individual. Going by this perspective, discrimination against individuals who possess the relevant qualifications is morally and ethically unacceptable; therefore, the discrimination of disabled people is restricted. This perspective also gives weight to affirmative programs, especially the DVAAP because qualified individuals are employed in the workplace, regardless of their physical challenges (Muhl, 1999).

After an analysis of the above perspectives of affirmative action programs, it can be asserted that disabled veterans should not get favored treatment over more qualified candidates who are not disabled veterans; instead, the ideologies of the deontological view should be embraced, considering qualification. This means that individuals should be given job opportunities according to their job and educational qualifications. Taking this stand means that disabled veterans will be given priority if they have the required qualifications for the job. This means that the DVAAP as an affirmative program should be promoted but not overly misused to give unfair priority to the disabled veterans in the recruitment process.