Conclusion

The brief final chapter does three things: (1) it summarizes the content of the book; (2) it sets out four of its main claims; and (3) it ends with some remarks about real-life affirmative action schemes mentioned in earlier chapters. Roughly, the pertinent four main claims of the book are (1) the cautious pro-affirmative action claim—that affirmative action is justified to the extent that it mitigates discrimination or reduces inequality of opportunity; (2) the plurality claim—that affirmative action schemes differ hugely in justification-relevant ways; (3) the contingency claim—that the justifiability of any particular affirmative action scheme depends significantly on contingent social facts; (4) and the incongruence claims—that the principle underlying different arguments for (or objections against) affirmative action often pull in different directions.