REACTIONS TO SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION - EVALUATING ONE ARGUMENT AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION

One argument made against affirmative action is that it is undesirable or inappropriate to treat people on the basis of their group membersh ip. The present study attempts to evaluate college students' opinions about this type of social categorization. Two variables were manipulat ed: type of social group (i.e., one based on race, gender, religion, s exual orientation, or college major), and the purpose of the categoriz ation (to identify, to form a social group, to form a political group, or for affirmative action purposes). Results indicated that students were, in general, opposed to such social categorizations. The presence of interaction effects, however, suggests that opposition to affirmat ive action is not uniform across different target groups and is not ba sed solely on objections to social categorization. Implications are di scussed.