Living with Moral Disagreement: The Enduring Controversy about Affirmative Action

148 Pages·2016·0.83 MB·English

by  Michele S. Moses

Living with Moral Disagreement
Living with Moral
Disagreement
The Enduring Controversy
about Affrmative Action
M I C H E L E S . M O S E S
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Michele S. Moses is professor of educational foundations, policy, and practice
and associate dean for graduate studies in the School of Education at the
University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of Embracing Race and
coeditor of Affrmative Action Matters.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-1 3: 978-0 -2 26-3 4424-9 (cloth)
ISBN-1 3: 978-0 -2 26-3 4438-6 (paper)
ISBN-1 3: 978-0 -2 26-3 4441-6 (e-b ook)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226344416.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-P ublication Data
Moses, Michele S., author.
Living with moral disagreement : the enduring controversy about
affrmative action / Michele S. Moses.
pages ; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0 -2 26-3 4424-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0 -2 26-
34438-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0 -2 26-3 4441-6 (e-b ook) 1.
Affrmative action programs in education—U nited States. 2. Affrmative
action programs in education—G overnment policy—U nited States. 3.
Educational equalization—U nited States. 4. Education and state—U nited
States. 5. Discrimination in education—U nited States. I. Title.
LC213.52.M67 2016
379.2’60973—d c23
2015022450
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1 992
(Permanence of Paper).
This book is dedicated to Chris, my love.
C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments / ix
O N E / “Who Isn’t for Equality?” / 1
T WO / The Case of Affrmative Action Policy / 10
T H R E E / The Nature of Moral Disagreement:
Conficting Ideals? / 23
F O U R / Ballot Initiatives, Moral Disagreement,
and Ideas of Equality / 54
F I V E / Deliberative Democracy and Policy Dialogue
(with Lauren P. Saenz and Amy Farley Lobue) / 67
S I X / What Should We Do about Profound Moral
Disagreements over Education Policy? / 89
Appendix A / Pre-Q uestionnaire / 99
Appendix B / Post-Q uestionnaire / 103
Appendix C / Post-P ost-Q uestionnaire / 107
Appendix D / Follow-U p Interview Protocol / 111
Notes / 113
References / 117
Index / 131
A C K N OW L E D G M E N T S
My father died suddenly while I was writing this book. In so many ways it
was he who inspired my love of philosophy—n ot explicitly, perhaps, but
in spirit—w ith his persistent questioning of my ideas and arguments, often
challenging, sometimes fat-o ut disagreeing, but always open to learning
something from his little girl. I miss him every day.
Disagreement. It can certainly be negative, but what comes along with
it in the best of circumstances—d ialogue, discussion, deliberation, greater
understanding—a re crucial parts of democracy. It is these things I hope we
can foster when moral disagreements about education policy surface, par-
ticularly about race-c onscious policies like affrmative action, which is the
central policy discussed in this book.
While of course the ideas, mistakes, and arguments herein are mine
alone, I would like to acknowledge the support I have received along the
way: intellectual, fnancial, professional, and personal. In the frst stages of
this work, I was fortunate to have a National Academy of Education / Spen-
cer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, as well as a small grant from the
National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good. Later research
grants from the Spencer Foundation and the University of Colorado Boul-
der LEAP, Grant-i n-A id, Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the
Social Sciences Scholars Fund, and IMPART grants programs made the de-
velopment of this book manuscript possible. I want to thank my dean at
the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, Lorrie Shepard,
who was always fexible when I needed writing time, even when as one of
her associate deans, she needed my assistance on administrative or student
matters. She has been in my corner since I was a new doctoral student in her
Doctoral Seminar course. I am proud to say that she is a dean who supports
humanities-o riented scholarship in an education research culture increas