Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context legal ethics public policy English) The policy or practice of discriminate against members of a designated group which has in the past unfairly received preferential treatment in social, legal, educational, or employment situations, with the intention of benefiting one or more other groups (such as racial, disabled, or gender groups) that have previously been discriminated against.
Wikipedia
Reverse discrimination is discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, or other factors. This discrimination may seek to redress social inequalities under which minority groups have had less access to privileges enjoyed by the majority group. In such cases it is intended to remove discrimination that minority groups may already face. The label reverse discrimination may also be used to highlight the discrimination inherent in affirmative action programs. Reverse discrimination can be defined as the unequal treatment of members of the majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities.
Conceptualizing affirmative action efforts as reverse discrimination began to become popular in the early- to mid-1970s, a time period that focused on underrepresentation and action policies intended to remedy the effects of past discrimination in both government and the business world. The concept of reverse discrimination has two different meanings. In the broadest sense, it refers to discrimination against Whites or males in any area of life, including employment and education. In a narrower sense, it refers to the specific negative impacts Whites or males may experience because of affirmative action policies. The two meanings are often conflated, which leads to confusion and misinformation.
The law in some countries, such as the UK, draws a distinction between "equality of provision" and "equality of outcome", based on the idea that identical treatment may sometimes act to preserve inequality rather than eliminate it. Opponents of this distinction may label it as an example of reverse discrimination.
Usage examples of "reverse discrimination".
They think you have been unfair, and they're taking flak from their peers in other units about reverse discrimination.
We would retain the principle of affirmative action but reform its practices to ensure that there were no quotas, no preferences for unqualified persons or companies, no reverse discrimination against whites, and no continuation of programs after their equal opportunity purpose had been achieved.
His was one of those depressing modern cases where sad white men who have failed to be promoted claim reverse discrimination, saying that they have been passed over for advancement in favour of less well qualified black lesbians.
In the nine months she'd worked the Trace she'd been part of two murder investigations, been sued for reverse discrimination and, now, totaled an expensive patrol car.
Tenney contested the firing, made noises about a lawsuit, reverse discrimination because he was a white male, but then he just went away.
The government is now attempting to implement reverse discrimination by promoting Kyrgyz bureaucrats to senior positions.
Natural selection had given way to a kind of reverse discrimination or tokenism.
Now that the fuss had died down, there had occasionally been some reverse discrimination instead—.
Natural selection had given way to a kind of reverse discrimination —.