Meritocracy and opposition to affirmative action: Making concessions in the face of discrimination.

TLDR

People who strongly endorse merit tend to oppose affirmative action programs that they view as violating merit. The study tests whether supporters of merit will concede to affirmative action when confronted with workplace discrimination that distorts merit assessments. Results show that merit‑principle supporters do concede to affirmative action when discrimination is perceived, supporting the hypothesis.

Abstract

Typically, people who strongly endorse the merit principle and believe that outcomes should be given to those most deserving oppose affirmative action (AA) programs that violate this principle. However, how do they respond to AA when faced with a great deal of workplace discrimination? The authors hypothesized that people who care strongly about merit should be motivated to combat discrimination because it biases the assessment of merit. Consequently, these individuals should make concessions for AA. The authors found support for their hypothesis when investigating (a) participants' preexisting perceptions of workplace discrimination and (b) experimentally induced perceptions of discrimination. They discuss the implications of these results for the psychology of meritocracy and for resistance to AA.