Gracia on Affirmative Action for Latinos

Jorge Gracia's Latinos in America: Philosophy and Social Identity is a clear and analytical account of Latino identity, the situation of Latinos in American life, and how Latinos see themselves. Using the skills characteristic of the analytical philosopher, Gracia tackles each of these issues with great sensitivity to the culture dimensions of the thorny philosophical problems that he encounters. In the first part of the book, he evaluates the two labels: "Hispanic identity" and "Latino identity." With great care, he explores the very idea of identities, general and particular. He points to the difficulties associated with lumping Latinos together under one label. In an extremely thoughtful way, he illustrates how attempts to find a general label depend upon stereotypes and why employing stereotypes is a harmful way to build collective identities. Gracia is well aware that this need to have labels to describe so-called general identities goes in more than one direction. For Gracia, Latinos are just as guilty as other ethnic groups in this stereotypical process of constructing general labels. In part 2, Gracia tackles questions that are extremely important to philosophers who are interested in normative philosophy. Here he wrestles with the justness of the marketplace for Latinos, the policy of affirmative action, and language rights. Each of these issues can be used to test the major conceptions of justice and rights that philosophers employ today. Finally, in part 3, he situates Latino understandings of who they are within the boundaries of Latino philosophy understood in the context of American and world philosophies.

I have learned a great deal from each part of this book. Although each part explores issues that can stand alone, a full appreciation of the book depends upon seeing the relationship among all three parts of the book. Having said this, with caution, I wish to focus on one aspect of part 2 of Gracia's valuable text: his discussion of affirmative action for Latinos. Gracia warns us that there has been mistrust, jealousy, and other negative reactions to members of different identities who are perceived to be competitors for scarce resources, but I know that he is also aware of the positive reactions and feelings of solidarity that members of these groups have shared in their efforts to address common concerns. The negative reactions are regrettable but understandable given the dominant narrative in American society of what it means to be an authentic and deserving America. Having said this, Gracia is certainly correct that Latinos and other (ethnic) groups see the policy of affirmative action in America for members of certain designated groups as a zero-sum game. Given this perception, the common misperception is that the policy cannot prove to be beneficial to members of each group that believes itself to be a proper beneficiary.

In the section "Affirmative Action: Meaning and Justification," Gracia tell us:

[First,] Latinos are recognizable as a group and distinguishable from other groups at particular times and places and . . . this is sufficient to implementing affirmative action policies. Second, affirmative action aims to ensure equal opportunity to members of groups that have suffered discrimination on the basis of gender, race, or ethnicity, to provide reparation for past wrongs to members of these groups, and to promote the participation of these groups in the political and cultural life of the nation. Third, affirmative action for Latinos considered as a group is justified on the basis of participation in the life of the nation, rather than on the basis of equal opportunity or reparation.

(98)

I understand Gracia's sentiments for wanting to limit the types of justifications that can be used to legitimate the use of affirmative action policies for Latinos as a group given the diverse nature of the group. However, I do not believe that the justification that he does endorse, participation in the life of the nation, can be understood independent of the two justifications he rejects. Gracia tell us that the "participation in the life of the nation" justification can be understood as either justice or utility, but unfortunately, his explication of why this is so is not rich enough to provide...