ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at empowering DEI workers in academia with a basic rationale for navigating around the main controversies regarding the understanding of affirmative action as a form of discrimination (conceptual level) as well as integrating its main frameworks for justification – the legal, moral, and business cases (justificatory level). At the conceptual level, building on existing literature on discrimination, the chapter argues that differential and partial features do not make affirmative action either morally wrong or illegal on the grounds of being discriminatory by default. At the justificatory level, the chapter presents strengths and weaknesses of the three main frameworks for the justification of affirmative action within the DEI discourse and argues for their integration when considering whether, when, and which type of affirmative action is the most adequate approach for both reflecting the institution’s social role and effectively advancing its goals.
