How beneficiaries perceive affirmative action shapes whether they devalue their achievements.

Evidence

Results from these experiments are important, but so far do not move much beyond a demonstration of common sense. If people are told that affirmative action has influenced their attainment of a position, they devalue the position or their performance - more so if they disapprove of affirmative action to begin with or if it was described as playing a central role, and less so if they see the apparent authority as racially biased. White women feel more demeaned by “unwarranted help” than do African Americans, who are more likely to see affirmative action as an entitlement. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1982