Whitelist: A Case of Resemblance

Purpose of the Study: To demonstrate a resemblance between nationwide affirmative action programs, quietly established early in the 1970s for the advancement of women and minor­ities, and a hypothetical behaviorist cultural design program for keeping young men out of middle class occupations whose sociological profile matches that of campus radical in the late 1960s. Procedure: To present the way affirmative action actually operates, drawing on personnel literature and widely-published statistics. Findings: The contradictions in the new hiring process simulate an experiment in behavior with personnel managers as operants; the new procedures,-themselves, appear to be extensions of Skinnerian philosophy; the profile of the "unprotected" class narrows· logically to the profile of campus radical; and finally, how awkwardly the other explanations for affirmative action conform to its operational realities. Conclusion: One can demonstrate a resemblance between the phenom­enon of affirmative action and a hypothetical behavior mod program for the "deselection" and quieting of those matching the radical profile of the late 1960s.