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Preferred term

positive discrimination  

Definition

  • Positive discrimination refers to the broad range of deliberate, time-bound (voluntarist) policies intended to facilitate the integration of historically deprived social groups that were hitherto discriminated or disadvantaged either by government policy or social prejudice. The principle of positive discrimination aims to reduce de facto inequality and gives preferential treatment to people belonging to groups whose past and actual discrimination in a given society is tied to ascriptive characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, region, language, caste, or religion. [Source: The Encyclopedia of Political Science; Positive Discrimination]

Entry terms

  • affirmative action

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URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/positive_discrimination

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