<P> Affirmative action in the United States is a set of laws, policies, guidelines, and administrative practices "intended to end and correct the effects of a specific form of discrimination ." These include government - mandated, government - sanctioned, and voluntary private programs that tend to focus on access to education and employment, granting special consideration to historically excluded groups, specifically racial minorities or women . The impetus toward affirmative action is redressing the disadvantages associated with past and present discrimination . Further impetus is a desire to ensure public institutions, such as universities, hospitals, and police forces, are more representative of the populations they serve . </P> <P> In the United States, affirmative action tends to emphasize not specific quotas but rather "targeted goals" to address past discrimination in a particular institution or in broader society through "good - faith efforts...to identify, select, and train potentially qualified minorities and women ." For example, many higher education institutions have voluntarily adopted policies which seek to increase recruitment of racial minorities . Outreach campaigns, targeted recruitment, employee and management development, and employee support programs are examples of affirmative action in employment . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Part of a series on </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Discrimination </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> General forms (show) <Ul> <Li> Age </Li> <Li> Caste </Li> <Li> Class </Li> <Li> Color </Li> <Li> Disability </Li> <Li> Genotype </Li> <Li> Hair texture </Li> <Li> Height </Li> <Li> Language </Li> <Li> Looks </Li> <Li> Mental condition </Li> <Li> Race / Ethnicity / Nationality </Li> <Li> Rank / Authority </Li> <Li> Religion </Li> <Li> Sex </Li> <Li> Sexual orientation </Li> <Li> Size </Li> <Li> Species </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Specific forms </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Social (show) <Ul> <Li> AIDS stigma </Li> <Li> Adultism </Li> <Li> Anti-albinism </Li> <Li> Anti-autism </Li> <Li> Anti-homelessness </Li> <Li> Anti-intellectualism </Li> <Li> Anti-intersex </Li> <Li> Anti-left handedness </Li> <Li> Anti-Masonry </Li> <Li> Jews </Li> <Li> Audism </Li> <Li> Binarism </Li> <Li> Biphobia </Li> <Li> Cronyism </Li> <Li> Drug use </Li> <Li> Elitism </Li> <Li> Ephebiphobia </Li> <Li> Ethnopluralism </Li> <Li> Body weight </Li> <Li> Genderism </Li> <Li> Anti-Elder </Li> <Li> Heteronormativity </Li> <Li> Heterosexism </Li> <Li> Homophobia </Li> <Li> Islamophobia </Li> <Li> Leprosy stigma </Li> <Li> Lesbophobia </Li> <Li> Mentalism </Li> <Li> Misandry </Li> <Li> Misogyny </Li> <Li> Nepotism </Li> <Li> Pedophobia </Li> <Li> Pregnancy </Li> <Li> Reverse </Li> <Li> Sectarianism </Li> <Li> Shadism </Li> <Li> Supremacism <Ul> <Li> Black </Li> <Li> White </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Li> Transmisogyny </Li> <Li> Transphobia </Li> <Li> Vegaphobia </Li> <Li> Xenophobia </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Manifestations (show) <Ul> <Li> Animal cruelty </Li> <Li> Animal testing </Li> <Li> Blood libel </Li> <Li> Blood sport </Li> <Li> Carnism </Li> <Li> Compulsory sterilization </Li> <Li> Counter-jihad </Li> <Li> Cultural genocide </Li> <Li> Democide </Li> <Li> Disability hate crime </Li> <Li> Educational </Li> <Li> Economic </Li> <Li> Eliminationism </Li> <Li> Employment </Li> <Li> Enemy of the people </Li> <Li> Ethnic cleansing </Li> <Li> Ethnic hatred </Li> <Li> Ethnic joke </Li> <Li> Ethnocide </Li> <Li> Forced conversion </Li> <Li> Freak show </Li> <Li> Gay bashing </Li> <Li> Gendercide </Li> <Li> Genital mutilation </Li> <Li> Genocide <Ul> <Li> examples </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Li> Glass ceiling </Li> <Li> Group libel </Li> <Li> Hate crime </Li> <Li> Hate group </Li> <Li> Hate speech </Li> <Li> Homeless dumping </Li> <Li> Housing </Li> <Li> Indian rolling </Li> <Li> LGBT hate crime </Li> <Li> Lavender scare </Li> <Li> Lynching </Li> <Li> Meat eating </Li> <Li> Mortgage </Li> <Li> Murder music </Li> <Li> Occupational segregation </Li> <Li> Persecution </Li> <Li> Pogrom </Li> <Li> Purge </Li> <Li> Race war </Li> <Li> Red Scare </Li> <Li> Religious persecution </Li> <Li> Scapegoating </Li> <Li> Segregation academy </Li> <Li> Sex - selective abortion </Li> <Li> Slavery </Li> <Li> Slut - shaming </Li> <Li> Trans bashing </Li> <Li> Victimisation </Li> <Li> Misogynistically--motivated violence </Li> <Li> White flight </Li> <Li> White power music </Li> <Li> Wife selling </Li> <Li> Witch - hunt </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Policies (show) <Ul> <Li> Segregation <Ul> <Li> age </Li> <Li> racial </Li> <Li> religious </Li> <Li> sexual </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Li> Age of candidacy </Li> <Li> Blood purity </Li> <Li> Blood quantum </Li> <Li> Crime of apartheid </Li> <Li> Disabilities <Ul> <Li> Jewish </Li> <Li> Catholic </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Li> Ethnocracy </Li> <Li> Gender pay gap </Li> <Li> Gender roles </Li> <Li> Gerontocracy </Li> <Li> Gerrymandering </Li> <Li> Ghetto benches </Li> <Li> Internment </Li> <Li> Jewish quota </Li> <Li> Jim Crow </Li> <Li> Law for Protection of the Nation </Li> <Li> McCarthyism </Li> <Li> Gay blood donor controversy </Li> <Li> Nonpersons </Li> <Li> Numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) </Li> <Li> Nuremberg Laws </Li> <Li> One - drop rule </Li> <Li> Racial quota </Li> <Li> Racial steering </Li> <Li> Racist real - estate </Li> <Li> Same - sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) </Li> <Li> Sodomy law </Li> <Li> Ugly law </Li> <Li> Voter suppression </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Countermeasures (show) <Ul> <Li> Affirmative action </Li> <Li> Animal rights </Li> <Li> Anti-discrimination law </Li> <Li> Cultural assimilation </Li> <Li> Cultural pluralism </Li> <Li> Desegregation </Li> <Li> Diversity training </Li> <Li> Empowerment </Li> <Li> Feminism </Li> <Li> Fighting Discrimination </Li> <Li> Human rights </Li> <Li> Intersex rights </Li> <Li> Masculism </Li> <Li> Multiculturalism </Li> <Li> Nonviolence </Li> <Li> Racial integration </Li> <Li> Self - determination </Li> <Li> Social integration </Li> <Li> Toleration </Li> <Li> Vegetarianism </Li> <Li> Veganism </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Related topics (show) <Ul> <Li> Allophilia </Li> <Li> Anthropocentrism </Li> <Li> Anti-cultural sentiment </Li> <Li> Assimilation </Li> <Li> Bias </Li> <Li> Christian privilege </Li> <Li> Data discrimination </Li> <Li> Dehumanization </Li> <Li> Diversity </Li> <Li> Ethnic penalty </Li> <Li> Eugenics </Li> <Li> Intersectionality </Li> <Li> Male privilege </Li> <Li> Masculism </Li> <Li> Multiculturalism </Li> <Li> Neurodiversity </Li> <Li> Oikophobia </Li> <Li> Oppression </Li> <Li> Police brutality </Li> <Li> Political correctness </Li> <Li> Power distance </Li> <Li> Prejudice </Li> <Li> Racial bias in criminal news </Li> <Li> Racism by country </Li> <Li> Regressive left </Li> <Li> Religious intolerance </Li> <Li> Second - generation gender bias </Li> <Li> Snobbery </Li> <Li> Social exclusion </Li> <Li> Stigma </Li> <Li> Stereotype <Ul> <Li> threat </Li> </Ul> </Li> <Li> White privilege </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Discrimination portal </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

It would be fair to say that in a multicultural society such as exists in the united states