Lakisha Phillips Ashford University SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility 7/18/2015 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Classical ethical theories and different ethical perspectives have a great application in the way affirmative action is viewed in the society. Other theories differ with these issue while others give a close relation to affirmative action and the way it has been taken by many organizations and institutions worldwide. Affirmative action refers to a policy that involves institutions or organizations engaging in active efforts in order to improve the opportunities for a specific group of individuals that appear to be excluded from the society (Mosser, 2013). Some of these groups are excluded in terms of race, color, religion or also national origin and this action always targets to increase a number of individuals from a particular groups within institutions, businesses not forgetting other areas in the society where there has been historically low representation by these groups. Affirmative action has been known to give the so called minorities an advantage the moment it comes to applying for employment opportunities, higher institution of learnings and other organizations in societies. It goes a step far by giving extra points when a test results where organizations are financially motivated to come out racially diverse. The effects of the outcome is always enables these candidates that appear less qualified to get a position, to be chosen and achieve minority quotas. This action was made a bill in order to prevent racism after a period where segregation was declared unconstitutional with the motive of employers to give opportunities to minorities but it has been said to be molded with a lot of issues. Utilitarianism theory For one to understand the way an ethical theory deals with affirmative action, the main important thing is understanding the perspective or theory first. Utilitarianism is one of the ethical theory which talks about focusing on expected outcome of a particular act instead of morality of that specific act itself. It can be summarized with the saying that “the end justifies the means” (Fluker, 2009). The other best way to describe this particular theory is that an individual choose an act which produces best outcome for high number of persons while giving room to least possible harm. Utilitarianism theory considers actions that give rise to the reverse of the feeling of happiness which can be termed as harm, however any harm that is created is able to be outweighed in case sufficient utility has been created in the result. For instance, when a life one individual needs to be taken for a purpose of saving two or more lives, utilitarianism theory suggests that it is the right action since there is creation of more utility compared to harm. Applying this theory to affirmative action can take many ways to approach the subject. In this case I will focus on why utilitarianism can be against practicin ...

1. Lakisha Phillips
Ashford University
SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility
7/18/2015
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Classical ethical theories and different ethical perspectives have
a great application in the way affirmative action is viewed in
the society. Other theories differ with these issue while others
give a close relation to affirmative action and the way it has
been taken by many organizations and institutions worldwide.
Affirmative action refers to a policy that involves institutions or
organizations engaging in active efforts in order to improve the
opportunities for a specific group of individuals that appear to
be excluded from the society (Mosser, 2013). Some of these
groups are excluded in terms of race, color, religion or also
national origin and this action always targets to increase a
number of individuals from a particular groups within
institutions, businesses not forgetting other areas in the society

2. where there has been historically low representation by these
groups.
Affirmative action has been known to give the so called
minorities an advantage the moment it comes to applying for
employment opportunities, higher institution of learnings and
other organizations in societies. It goes a step far by giving
extra points when a test results where organizations are
financially motivated to come out racially diverse. The effects
of the outcome is always enables these candidates that appear
less qualified to get a position, to be chosen and achieve
minority quotas. This action was made a bill in order to prevent
racism after a period where segregation was declared
unconstitutional with the motive of employers to give
opportunities to minorities but it has been said to be molded
with a lot of issues.
Utilitarianism theory
For one to understand the way an ethical theory deals with
affirmative action, the main important thing is understanding
the perspective or theory first. Utilitarianism is one of the
ethical theory which talks about focusing on expected outcome
of a particular act instead of morality of that specific act itself.
It can be summarized with the saying that “the end justifies the
means” (Fluker, 2009). The other best way to describe this
particular theory is that an individual choose an act which
produces best outcome for high number of persons while giving
room to least possible harm. Utilitarianism theory considers
actions that give rise to the reverse of the feeling of happiness
which can be termed as harm, however any harm that is created
is able to be outweighed in case sufficient utility has been
created in the result. For instance, when a life one individual
needs to be taken for a purpose of saving two or more lives,
utilitarianism theory suggests that it is the right action since
there is creation of more utility compared to harm.
Applying this theory to affirmative action can take many ways
to approach the subject. In this case I will focus on why

3. utilitarianism can be against practicing affirmative action. We
can take a look at “The Greatest Happiness Principle” to open
up this dilemma. A close analysis of affirmative action, we can
see that utilitarianism results to creation of more utility, for a
society to be great in a case where minorities are denied special
treatment compared to the majority (Lo, 2012). The practice of
giving special treatment to minorities gives a creation of more
suffering to more individuals that it really helps. The logic
behind this is that there are more number of individuals in the
majority population compared to minority.
Deontology theory
This theory claims that there exist universal laws that an
individual is not supposed to violate at all cost. When compared
with utilitarianism theory, this theory does not look at
consequences of any action but instead the morality of that
particular act itself. Deontologists asks whether an act is just or
moral or whether it follows golden rule. Golden rule in this case
states clearly that a person needs to treat another individual the
same way he or she expects to be treated or handled. This
theory focuses on obligating actions expected from a rational
moral agent. Applying the theory of deontology to affirmative
action can make a deontologist to think that it is unethical for
any group of individuals to be given a special treatment or
being preferred than other groups (Fluker, 2009). The reason
behind this is that it violates the golden rule when
discriminating against a majority and giving minority advantage
over others in the society.
The deontologists cannot be concerned with the repercussions of
eliminating activities of affirmative action, however their main
point is that discrimination is immoral even if it goes ahead and
benefit other individuals hence making it clear that
deontologists are against discrimination act. This shows that the
deontologists considers the institutions that practice affirmative
action as being morally wrong. This shows that deontologists
act against the affirmative action.

4. Ethical perspective of Relativism
Relativism is an ethical perspective which denotes that
individuals are not supposed to be judged basing upon any
individuals’ standards but should be judged upon the society.
The relativists always believe that there is nothing like an
absolute law. It is considered a good philosophy to people that
believe in agreeing to disagree instead of casting a judgment.
Considering how Relativist consider what organization take
affirmative action to be, there exist many possibilities although
there is a major stumbling block that is hard to overcome in
applying this theory (Mosser, 2013) . The main idea is that
relativism helps to prevent a society being judged meaning that
if a certain society is undergoing racism and any minorities
being discriminated, this ethical perspective makes one think
that it is not proper judging that particular society. Putting that
in mind, it appears impossible for any relativist to support any
societal change. Individuals have argued that the goal of
affirmative action is societal change and due to this logic,
relativist will obviously be against it.

5. Work Cited
Mosser K. (2013). Ethics and social responsibility (2nd ed). San
Diego, CA: Bridge point Education Inc.
Walter E. Fluker, (2009). Ethical Leadership: The Quest for
Character, Civility and Community. Fortress Press. Pp. 201.
Bernard Lo, (2012). Resolving ethical Dilemmas. Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins. Pp. 156-160.
Sheet1Problem 9-1What is the price of a Treasury STRIPS with
a face value of $100 that matures in 5 years and has a yield to
maturity of 9.0 percent? (Do not round intermediate
calculations. Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the
"$" sign in your response.)AnswerExample Price = $100 / (1 +
.035/2)2(10) =
Sheet2Problem 9-2A Treasury STRIPS matures in 8 years and
has a yield to maturity of 5.4 percent. Assume the par value is
$100,000.a.What is the price of the STRIPS? (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Round your answer to 2 decimal
places. Omit the "$" sign in your response.) Price$ b.What is
the quoted price? (Do not round intermediate calculations.
Round your answer to 3 decimal places.) Quoted
priceExamplea.Price = $100,000 / (1 + .054/2)2(8.5) = b.Quoted
price = $63,577.36 / $1,000 =
Sheet3Problem 9-3A Treasury STRIPS is quoted at 67.181 and
has 7 years until maturity. What is the yield to maturity? (Do
not round intermediate calculations. Enter your answer as a
percent rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your

6. response.) YTM %ExampleYTM = 2 × [(100 / 81.265)1/(2 ×
8) − 1] = .0261 or 2.61%
Sheet4roblem 9-4What is the yield to maturity on a Treasury
STRIPS with 6 years to maturity and a quoted price of
81.247?(Do not round intermediate calculations. Enter your
answer as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%"
sign in your response.) YTM % ExampleYTM = 2 × [(100 /
65.492)1/(2 ×7) − 1] = .0614 or 6.14%
Sheet5Problem 9-11A Treasury bill with 136 days to maturity is
quoted at 96.012. What is the bank discount yield, the bond
equivalent yield, and the effective annual return? (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Enter your answers as a percent
rounded to 3 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.) Discount yield % Bond equivalent
yield % Effective annual return % Example98.921 = 100 × [1
− (82/360) × DY); discount yield = .04737 or 4.737%bond
equivalent yield = [365(.04737)]/[360 − (82)(.04737)] = .04855
or 4.855%EAR = [1 + .04855/(365/82)]365/82 − 1 = .04947 or
4.947%
Sheet6Problem 9-12A Treasury bill purchased in December
2015 has 123 days until maturity and a bank discount yield of
2.38 percent. Assume a $100 face value.a.What is the price of
the bill as a percentage of face value? (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Enter your answer as a percent
rounded to 3 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.) Price % b.What is the bond equivalent yield? (Do
not round intermediate calculations. Enter your answer as a
percent rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.) Bond equivalent yield % Example1.0593 = [1 +
(APR)(90/365)]365/90 ; APR = bond equivalent yield =
5.802%discount yield = [360(.05802)]/[365 + (90)(.05802)] =
5.642%
Sheet7Problem 9-13The treasurer of a large corporation wants
to invest $16 million in excess short-term cash in a particular
money market investment. The prospectus quotes the instrument
at a true yield of 6.64 percent; that is, the EAR for this

7. investment is 6.64 percent. However, the treasurer wants to
know the money market yield on this instrument to make it
comparable to the T-bills and CDs she has already bought. If
the term of the instrument is 80 days, what are the bond
equivalent and discount yields on this investment? (Do not
round intermediate calculations. Enter your answers as a percent
rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.) Bond equivalent yield % Discount
yield % Example1.0593 = [1 + (APR)(90/365)]365/90 ; APR =
bond equivalent yield = 5.802%discount yield =
[360(.05802)]/[365 + (90)(.05802)] = 5.642%
Sheet8Consider the following spot interest rates for maturities
of one, two, three, and four years. r1 = 3.7% r2 = 4.2%
r3 = 4.9% r4 = 5.7%What are the following forward rates,
where f1, k refers to a forward rate for the period beginning in
one year and extending for k years? (Do not round intermediate
calculations. Enter your answers as a percent rounded to 2
decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.)Examplef1,1 = (1.0492/1.043)1/1 − 1 = 5.50%f1,2 =
(1.0563/1.043)1/2 − 1 = 6.26%f1,3 = (1.0644/1.043)1/3 − 1 =
7.11%
Sheet9Problem 9-23Consider the following spot interest rates
for maturities of one, two, three, and four years. r1 =
3.9% r2 = 4.5% r3 = 5.2% r4 = 6.0%Assuming a
constant real interest rate of 2 percent, what are the
approximate expected inflation rates for the next four
years? (Do not round intermediate calculations. Enter your
answers as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%"
sign in your response.) I1 % I2 % I3 % I4 %
EXAMPLEf2,1 = 1.0563/1.0492 − 1 = 7.01%f3,1 =
1.0644/1.0563 − 1 = 8.84%I1 = r1 − 2% = 4.30% − 2% =
2.30%I2 = f1,1 − 2% = 5.50% − 2% = 3.50%I3 = f2,1 − 2% =
7.01% − 2% = 5.01%I4 = f3,1 – 2% = 8.84% – 2% = 6.84%
Sheet10Problem 9-24A Treasury bill that settles on May 18,
2012, pays $100,000 on August 21, 2012. Assuming a discount
rate of 3.48 percent, what is the price and bond equivalent

8. yield? Use Excel to answer this question. (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Round your answers to 2 decimal
places. Omit the "$" & "%" signs in your
response.) Price$ Bond equivalent yield %
Sheet11Aloha Inc. has 8 percent coupon bonds on the market
that have 11 years left to maturity. If the YTM on these bonds is
10.22 percent, what is the current bond price? (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Round your answer to 2 decimal
places. Omit the "$" sign in your response.) Price$
Sheet12Problem 10-2Rolling Company bonds have a coupon
rate of 4.80 percent, 18 years to maturity, and a current price of
$1,126. What is the YTM? The current yield? (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Enter your answers as a percent
rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.) YTM % Current yield %
Sheet13 bond has a coupon rate of 9.2 percent and 6 years until
maturity. If the yield to maturity is 8.5 percent, what is the
price of the bond? (Do not round intermediate calculations.
Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the "$" sign in
your response.) Price of the bond$
Sheet14Problem 10-5A bond sells for $941.15 and has a coupon
rate of 7.80 percent. If the bond has 21 years until maturity,
what is the yield to maturity of the bond? (Do not round
intermediate calculations. Enter your answer as a percent
rounded to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your
response.) Yield to maturity %
Sheet15Problem 10-11Ghost Rider Corporation has bonds on the
market with 12 years to maturity, a YTM of 7.1 percent, and a
current price of $932. What must the coupon rate be on the
company’s bonds? (Do not round intermediate calculations.
Enter your answer as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places.
Omit the "%" sign in your response.) Coupon rate %
Sheet16LKD Co. has 12 percent coupon bonds with a YTM of
8.8 percent. The current yield on these bonds is 9.1 percent.
How many years do these bonds have left until they
mature? (Do not round intermediate calculations. Round your

9. answer to 2 decimal places.) Bonds mature years