Opponents of affirmative action declined to abolish it when they held power

Evidence

In the 1960s, as Stephen Carter (1991) reminds us, many on the left saw affirmative action as an individualistic sell-out. In their view, affirmative action encouraged personal mobility of the most energetic, articulate, and effective actors within a racial or gender group at the expense of structural transformation that would benefit the whole group. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, what happened to that view? Why did support for affirmative action move from being a relatively right-wing position (President Nixon established the Philadelphia plan partly to give more blacks a stake in the extant economic system, and endorsed set-asides in order to encourage black capitalism) to being a relatively leftwing position over the past 30 years? — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1959 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Affirmative action shifted from a right-wing to a left-wing position over thirty years — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1959

Broader Connections

• Affirmative action shifted from a right-wing to a left-wing position over thirty years #complicates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1959