Friedman on racial discrimination « Understanding Society

Friedman on racial discrimination « Understanding Society

Milton Friedman argues that racial #discrimination in #employment is essentially impossible within a market #economy. In his "#Capitalism and Freedom" Friedman expresses skepticism about whether the concept of “discrimination” even makes sense within a market economy. So taking steps through legislation to reduce the harmful effects of racial discrimination in hiring (and presumably in #housing) is an illegitimate use of the force of government, according to Friedman. In fact, he compares efforts to do so to the Hitler Nuremberg laws (p. 111). Friedman's analysis of racial discrimination is a striking example of the ways in which adherence to a theory can blind a person to the patent social realities around him or her. And once we see the realities of how racial discrimination and coercion worked in America, it is incumbent upon us as a society to put aside our stylized theories and attack the problem. #Inequality #neoliberalism