This article is taken from the journal Personnel Psychology. It deals with the affirmative action and its role within firms. First of all, we have to define and search the origins of Affirmative Action (AA). According to the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website AA consists in “positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded.” In fact, AA has deeps and profounds origins. It started from the Executive Order (EO) 10925 established by the President of the United States John F. Kennedy, the March 6, 1961. It was said that in the Section 301 that “the contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin” and he “ will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” The President Lyndon B. Johnson signed on September 24, 1965, the EO 11246 about Equal Employment Opportunity and reinforced the basis legal about discrimination and AA. It says that it “prohibits federal contractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors, who do over $10,000 in Government business in one year from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." All this legal acts are signed in a period where conditions and civil rights, for African Americans are changing and the increasing popularity such as Martin Luther King has strengthened all this moves and changes.
Now we know a little bit more about Affirmative Action’s origins, the reason I choose this article is that Affirmative Action has always generated strong controversies, long debates with a huge literature with as much pros as cons. It still today a problem for government, and this text was the opportunity to me to have a