Ethics-Discrimination Questions
4. I believe there are multiple kinds of argument against racial and sexual job discrimination, which include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Executive Order 11246, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. There is also the argument against racial and sexual job discrimination based on Utilitarianism, Rights, and Justice.
The Utilitarian argument states that jobs should be assigned based on skills and personality traits, if it advances public welfare. Discrimination creates inefficiency, which is opposite to utilitarianism. Any other ideals for hiring someone or discriminating against someone decrease productivity.
The Rights-based perspective argues that discrimination is wrong as it violates a person’s basic moral right. Discrimination also adheres to the belief that certain groups are inferior to others, and due to that inequality, they have jobs that are of a lower socio-economic status. These violate Kantian theory, as it is morally wrong for a person to discriminate.
There are also justice-based arguments. Discrimination violates the principle of equality, which is defined as, “Individuals who are equal in all respects relevant to the kind of treatment in question should be treated equally even if they are dissimilar in other, nonrelevant respects” (Velasquez, pp.369). Discrimination in the workplace also violates justice as it judges people on a set of beliefs that are not relevant to their job position.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 “made it illegal to base decisions on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; it created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to administer the Act” (Velasquez, pp. 352). This Act addresses human rights as well as justice as women and minorities are hired into positions that are not high level, nor have room for growth within a company. There are multiple barriers to entry that were lifted due to this Act.
The Executive Order 11246 “required companies doing business with the federal
The Utilitarian argument states that jobs should be assigned based on skills and personality traits, if it advances public welfare. Discrimination creates inefficiency, which is opposite to utilitarianism. Any other ideals for hiring someone or discriminating against someone decrease productivity.
The Rights-based perspective argues that discrimination is wrong as it violates a person’s basic moral right. Discrimination also adheres to the belief that certain groups are inferior to others, and due to that inequality, they have jobs that are of a lower socio-economic status. These violate Kantian theory, as it is morally wrong for a person to discriminate.
There are also justice-based arguments. Discrimination violates the principle of equality, which is defined as, “Individuals who are equal in all respects relevant to the kind of treatment in question should be treated equally even if they are dissimilar in other, nonrelevant respects” (Velasquez, pp.369). Discrimination in the workplace also violates justice as it judges people on a set of beliefs that are not relevant to their job position.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 “made it illegal to base decisions on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; it created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to administer the Act” (Velasquez, pp. 352). This Act addresses human rights as well as justice as women and minorities are hired into positions that are not high level, nor have room for growth within a company. There are multiple barriers to entry that were lifted due to this Act.
The Executive Order 11246 “required companies doing business with the federal
References: Sexual Orientation. (n.d). AFLCIO. Retrieved from http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Civil-and-Workplace- Rights/Your-Rights-at-Work/Sexual-Orientation. Velasquez, Manuel G. . Business Ethics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012. Print.