Affirmative action has simultaneously helped and harmed specific individuals

Evidence

It has arguably harmed those who would have been admitted or hired absent affirmative action (Lynch 1989; Taylor 1991). It may even have simultaneously helped and harmed a few people (Carter, 1991; Steele, 1999; Clayton and Crosby, 1992). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1998