Minority group
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Redirect5 The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sociological sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has less power (whether political or economic) than a dominant group. Examples of US minorities in this latter context include women and African Americans.[1]
In a socio-economic context, the term "minority" tends to refer to groups of people who, according to a particular set of criteria, are fewer in population than other ethnic groups. All criteria for ethnicity have bearing on designating a minority — language, nationality, religion or culture. Often this means it is outnumbered by at least one other sub-group, but not always. The term sexual minority is sometimes used for groups (gay men and lesbians, transgendered individuals, etc.) whose sexual orientation or gender identity differs from the perceived norm.
In politics, a minority government may be one which is formed by a party with a plurality of seats in the national legislature, when no majority party exists.
A minority group refers to a social group whose members are subject to different and unequal treatment in the society in which they live; this differential treatment is based solely on an individual's perceived membership to a given minority group and without consideration of that individual's personal achievement. A distinction must be made between numerical minorities and majorities, defined by their relative size, and sociological minorities and majorities—the focus of this article—defined by their relative status; to aviod confusion, some authors alternately substitute the terms subordinate group and dominant group for the terms minority group and majority group, respectively.
Contents |
Sociological minority groups
A majority, in sociological terms, is that segment of the population that outweighs all others combined, one that is dominant. The term minority is unavoidably associated with the political movements which push for assimilation, in which the minority group sheds its distinctive traits and is absorbed into the dominant group.
Generally speaking, a minority is any disadvantaged group, regardless of their size in comparison to the rest of the population. An example would be the numerically majority blacks in South Africa under the Apartheid system. The classic definition of a minority group, as put forward by sociologist Louis Wirth, is "a group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination."
The definition includes both objective and subjective criteria: Membership to a minority group is objectively ascribed by society, based on an individual's physical or behavioral characteristics; it is also subjectively applied by its members, who may use their status as the basis of group identity or solidarity.
In any case, minority group status is categorical in nature: an individual who shows the physical or behavioral characteristics of a given minority group will be accorded the status of that group and be subject to the same treatment as other members of that group.
A society singles-out members for differential treatment based on a variety of categories, including (but not limited to) age, gender, race or ethnicity, disability, and religious orientation.
Racial or Ethnic Minorities
See Lyal S. Sunga, International Criminal Law: Protection of Minority Rights, Beyond a One-Dimensional State: An Emerging Right to Autonomy? (ed. Zelim Skurbaty) (2004) 255-275.
Religious Minorities
Here the role distribution is not intrinsic but historical: Muslims are a minority in predominantly Christian western societies, and vice versa.
Gender 'minority'
Even though the natural distribution of the genders tends to be roughly equal, in many societies one gender is traditionally dominant enough to be behave as a 'majority', making the other, in the modern age generally women, as a de facto minority.
Sexual minorities
Homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals, either separate or grouped (by such names as HoLeBi).
Agist minorities
The Elderly, while traditionally influential or even (in a gerontocracy) dominant in the past, have in the modern age usually been reduced to the minority role of economically 'non-active' groups.
The Disabled
In politics and government
In the politics of some countries, a minority is an ethnic group that is recognized as such by respective laws of its country and therefore has some rights that other groups lack. Speakers of a legally-recognized minority language, for instance, might have the right to education or communication with the government in their mother tongue. Countries that have special provisions for minorities include China, Germany, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom (which does maintain the concept of a British supra-nation, however). In the United States, the term minority typically refers to members of the non-white population, but since the population and power of whites has been decreasing over time in the US, using the term "minority" to identify non-whites in some regions is becoming a misnomer.
Differing minority groups often are not given identical treatment. Some groups are too small or too indistinct compared to the majority, that they either identify as part of the same nation as the members of the majority, or they identify as a separate nation but are ignored by the majority because of the costs or some other aspect of providing preferences. For example, a member of a particularly small ethnic group might be forced to check "Other" on a checklist of different backgrounds, and consequently might receive fewer privileges than a member of a more defined group.
Many contemporary governments prefer to assume the people they rule all belong to the same nationality rather than separate ones based on ethnicity. The United States asks for race and ethnicity on its official census forms, which thus breaks up and organizes its population into different sub-groups, but primarily on racial origin rather than national one. Spain does not divide its nationals by ethnic group, although it does maintain an official notion of minority languages.
Some minorities are so relatively large or historically or otherwise important that the system is set up in a way to ensure complete equality. As an example, the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognizes the three main nations, none of which constitute a numerical majority, as constitutive nations, see nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The issue of establishing minority groups, and determining the extent of privileges they might derive from their status, is controversial. There are some who argue that minorities are owed special recognition and rights, while others feel that minorities are unjustified in demanding special rights, as this amounts to preferential discrimination and could hamper the ability of the minority to integrate itself into mainstream society - perhaps to the point at which the minority follows a path to separatism or supremacism. In Canada, some feel that the failure of the dominant English-speaking majority to assimilate French Canadians has given rise to Quebec separatism.
One particularly controversial issue is affirmative action, or positive discrimination: the idea that minorities should be granted special privileges that the majority does not enjoy. An example of this is when an individual of minority status is given preference for acceptance to a university over a more- or equally-qualified non-minority, in order to fulfill a quota of minorities in the student body. Critics of these policies often refer to them as reverse discrimination and argue that they are perpetrating new wrongs to counter old ones, and instilling a sense of victimhood in the majority. Proponents of the polices argue that the end result—a more diversified student body—justifies the means. The debate is likely to continue into the future.
See also
External links
- Eurominority - Organization for the European Minorities (Stateless Nations and national minorities)
- ECMI - European Centre for Minority Issues
- Minority Rights Group International
- What is a Minority Group? definitions from Dayton Law School.
- From Paris to Cairo: Resistance of the Unacculturated
- When minorities rule over majoritiesTemplate:Socio-stub
als:Ethnische Minderheit de:Minderheit et:Vähemusrahvus fr:Minorité nationale he:מיעוט lt:Mažuma hu:Kisebbség ja:社会的少数者 no:Minoritet ro:Minoritate sl:Narodna manjšina fi:Etninen vähemmistö sv:Minoritet zh:少數族群