Treating individuals according to group membership (race, gender, etc)

Is it justified to hold back one person who has X trait if others who have X trait have an unfair advantage or are on top of society?

I have often seen this trotted out as if it doesn't need any justification. But I think it does, and I'd like to hear the arguments for it.

If the average of people who have X trait have a much higher income than the average of people who have Y trait, should we pay people who have Y trait more for the same work as people who have X trait, to balance it out? If so, why?

If there are more people of X trait than Y trait in Z elite post, should we bar more people of X trait from entry or make it harder for them to get in, and easier for people of Y trait to get in?
Should we prefer people of Y trait if the applicants are otherwise equally qualified with competing applicants of X trait? If so, why?

If people who were A were historically abused and held back, and if those barriers are now removed*, for justice to happen, should people who are now A (not the same individuals) be given an advantage over others? If so, why?

* - Please address these questions without changing them. I understand that in the case of race, many would argue that this question doesn't refer to our society and that there is ongoing injustice done to non-white people, so those people should be compensated. That's not the question (it doesn't fit the pattern regarding group membership above if you can base it on the individual's own merit/injustice) and I'd like to preempt that derail if I can.

 

Hi, Jolly Penguin.

I'll respond to the second question. Setting it as a less theoretical query, it asks whether, given that women have been paid less than men for doing the same job in the past, should we [our society] make employers pay women more then men now to make up for the past. This has a Venn overlap with the questions revolving about affirmative action procedures in general.

And that, dear sir, goes to the heart of the definition of a just society.

Ours in the US has not been one in the past and arguably continues to fail to be one in a number of areas.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.