Affirmative Action Bans,Individual Bias,and Systematic Inequality

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between affirmative action bans and racial attitudes, with a particular focus on state-level actions, such as California's Proposition 209 and recent Supreme Court rulings, including Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023). These legal and political shifts have reshaped the racial landscape in higher education, particularly affecting underrepresented minority (URM) populations. Drawing on psychological and sociological frameworks, this paper elaborates on the relationships among implicit bias, racial inequality, institutional structures, and race-specific social policies such as affirmative action. Novel interdisciplinary approaches consider historical, economic, socio-psychological, and structural factors. Gaps in existing research specify the need for a more comprehensive link between individual micro-level psychological processes and macro-level policies and structures. By addressing these gaps, the paper aims to contribute to the broader conversation on the consequences of affirmative action bans and propose pathways for future research incorporating implicit racial attitudes and education policy.

Keywords

affirmative action implicit bias education policy social psychology causal inference

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