Fair Selection

Abstract

When do applicants in selection procedures have claims to selection under affirmative action? Can the use of affirmative action be consistent with considerations of merit? My dissertation argues that applicants have claims to the implementation of affirmative action policies when they are members of a socially salient group that experiences group-level disadvantage that is connected to historical injustice. Against individualist explanations of when applicants hold claims to selection under affirmative action, I argue that only a group-based account can avoid objections commonly raised against affirmative action and make sense of affirmative action as a policy tool. Against nonremedial accounts of affirmative action, I argue that only a remedial account can distinguish between those disadvantages that do and those that do not warrant use of affirmative action. Against familiar remedial accounts, I argue that affirmative action remediates not by compensating the victims of past injustice, but rather by providing non-compensatory forms of remedy for historical injustice. I explain how proponents of affirmative action can respond successfully to the claim that such policies unfairly deny meritorious applicants opportunities in favor of those with less merit. I also explain why treating some considerations as merit-conferring is unjust.