Reverse Discrimination (1964)

[George Thompson]

Fred Shapiro posts:

> Here's a slightly earlier citation:
>
> 1963 _Jrnl. Political Economy_ 71: 133  At higher levels of
> schooling the age-income profiles may be raised somewhat by reverse
> discrimination that favors sons, relatives, and others of higher
> social-economic status.
>
> Fred Shapiro


This citation is the reverse of my notion of the usual meaning of
"reverse discrimination", which is, a policy favoring a class of person
usually the victims of discriminatory policies.  Since the policy of
favoring the favored -- as for instance, favoring the children of alumni
-- was hardly new in the 1960s, I suppose that the "new situation"
referred to by the admissions director quoted in the citation Barry had
posted is the situation I have described.

Fred was responding to the following:

> On Wed, 11 Apr 2001 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
> >    OED has 1969 for "reverse discrimination."
> >    From the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 8 April 1964, pg. 1, col. 2:
> >
> > _The College Panic--3d in Series_ _Ivy League "Reverse
> > Discrimination"_ (...)  For there is a kind of "reverse
> > discrimination" operating (COl. 3--ed.) in the nation's colleges
> > this year.  No one likes to use that phrase, but as one
> > admissions director from a highly selective college, who prefers
> > anonymity, describes the new situation...

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African
Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.