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Dictionary definition: affirmative action
- Article from:
- A Dictionary of Contemporary World History
- Author:
Copyright© A Dictionary of Contemporary World History 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information)
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affirmative action
(USA) Initiated as US government policy by President
Johnson
in 1965, when he created the Office of Federal Contract Compliance and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Through these bureaus, affirmative action was designed to reduce social inequalities in US society by requiring all federal government contractors as well as public institutions to give consideration to racial minorities and, from 1971, to women. In 1978 the policy was given an ambiguous verdict by the
Supreme Court
in
Bakke
v.
University of California
, when the court confirmed the policy as constitutional while deciding at the same time that the use of quotas to favour minorities violated the ...