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The term "minority group" has different usages, depending on the context. According to its common usage, the term minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half, is a "minority". Usually a minority group is disempowered relative to themajority, and that characteristic lends itself to different applications of the term minority.
In terms of sociology, economics, and politics, a demographic that takes up the smallest fraction of the population is not necessarily labelled the "minority" if it wields dominant power. In the academic context, the terms "minority" and "majority" are used in terms of hierarchicalpower structures. For example, in South Africa, duringApartheid, white Europeans held virtually all social, economic, and political power over black Africans. For this reason, black Africans are the "minority group", despite the fact that they outnumber white Europeans in South Africa. This is why academics more frequently use the term "minority group" to refer to acategory of people who experience relative disadvantage, as compared to members of a dominant social group.[1] To address this ambiguity,Harris Mylonas has proposed the term "non-core group", instead of "minority group", to refer to any aggregation of individuals that is perceived as an unassimilated ethnic group (on a linguistic, religious, physical, or ideological basis) by the ruling political elite of a country"[2] and reserves the term 'minority' only for groups that have been granted minority rights by their state of residence.
Minority group membership is typically based on differences in observable characteristics or practices, such as:ethnicity (ethnic minority),race (racial minority), religion (religious minority), sexual orientation (sexual minority), ordisability.[3] The framework ofintersectionality can be used to recognize that an individual may simultaneously hold membership in multiple minority groups (e.g. both a racial and religious minority).[4] Likewise, individuals may also be part of a minority group in regard to some characteristics, but part of a dominant group in regard to others.[5]
The term "minority group" often occurs within thediscourse ofcivil rights andcollective rights, as members of minority groups are prone to differential treatment in the countries and societies in which they live.[6] Minority group members often facediscrimination in multiple areas of social life, including housing, employment, healthcare, and education, among others.[7][8] While discrimination may be committed by individuals, it may also occur throughstructural inequalities, in which rights and opportunities are not equally accessible to all.[9] Those in favour ofminority rights often pursue laws designed to protect minority groups from discrimination and afford members of the minority group equal social status and legal protections as held by members of the dominant group.[10]
Prior to theParis Peace Conference (1919–1920), the term "minority" primarily referred to political parties in national legislatures, not ethnic, national, linguistic or religious groups. Such minority parties were powerless relative to the majority (or plurality) political group.[11] The Paris Conference has been attributed with coining the concept of minority rights and bringing prominence to it.[11] The League of Nations Minorities Commission defined minority in 1919 as "nationals belonging to racial, religious, or linguistic minorities".[11] Protection of minority groups, such as through careful drawing of boundaries of states andproportional representation, was seen as integral in preventing causes of future wars.[citation needed]
Louis Wirth defined a minority group as "a group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in thesociety in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination".[12] The definition includes both objective and subjective criteria: membership of a minority group is objectivelyascribed 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 orsolidarity.[13] Thus, minority group status is categorical: an individual who exhibits the physical or behavioral characteristics of a given minority group is accorded the status of that group and is subject to the same treatment as other members of that group.[12]
Joe Feagin, states that a minority group has five characteristics: (1) suffering discrimination and subordination, (2) physical and/or cultural traits that set them apart, and which are disapproved by the dominant group, (3) a shared sense of collective identity and common burdens, (4) socially shared rules about who belongs and who does not determine minority status, and (5) tendency to marry within the group.[14]
There is a controversy with the use of the word minority, as it has a generic and an academic usage.[15] Common usage of the term indicates a statistical minority; however, academics refer to power differences among groups rather than differences in population size among groups.[16]
The above criticism is based on the idea that a group can be considered a minority even if it includes such a large number of people that it is numerically not a minority in society.
Some sociologists have criticized the concept of "minority/majority", arguing this language excludes or neglects changing or unstable cultural identities, as well as cultural affiliations across national boundaries.[17] As such, the term historically excluded groups (HEGs) is often similarly used to highlight the role of historical oppression and domination, and how this results in the under-representation of particular groups in various areas of social life.[18]
The term national minority is often used to discuss minority groups in international and national politics.[19] All countries contain some degree of racial, ethnic, or linguistic diversity.[20] In addition, minorities may also be immigrant, indigenous or landless nomadic communities.[21] This often results in variations in language, culture, beliefs, practices, that set some groups apart from the dominant group. As these differences are usually perceived negatively, this results in loss of social and political power for members of minority groups.[22]
Sometimes, racist policies explicitly codified pseudo-scientific definitions of race: such as the United States'one-drop rule andblood quantum laws, South Africa'sapartheid, and Nazi GermanyNuremberg race laws. Other times, race has been a matter of self-identification, withde facto racist policies implemented.[29] In addition to governmental policy, racism may persist as social prejudice and discrimination.
There are also social groups that are usually identified throughethnicity.[27] Like race, ethnicity is largely determinedhereditarily. However, it can also be influenced by factors such asadoption,cultural assimilation,religious conversion, andlanguage shift. As race and ethnicity often overlap,[30] many ethnic minorities are also racial minorities. However, this is not always the case, and some people are ethnic minorities while also being classified as white, such as someJews,Roma, andSámi. In some cases, their ethnic identities have been seen as negating their whiteness, in bothinter- andintra-group identification.[31][32]
In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, there is a preference to categorise people by ethnicity instead of race.[33] Ethnicity encompasses a mix of "long shared cultural experiences, religious practices, traditions, ancestry, language, dialect or national origins".[34] The United Kingdom considers everyone butwhite British people to be an ethnic minority, including other white Europeans such asWhite Irish people (excluding in Northern Ireland).[33]
A national minority is a social group within a state that differs from the majority and/or dominant population in terms of ethnicity, language, culture, or religion, but also it also tends to have a close link with a specific territory from which the minority social group originates.[35]
Also known as "castelike minorities", involuntary minorities are a term for people who were originally brought into any society against their will. In the United States, for instance, it includes but is not limited to Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans, African Americans,[36] and in the 1800s, native-bornHispanics.[37]
Immigrants take on minority status in their new country, usually in hopes of a better future economically, educationally, and politically than in their homeland. Because of their focus on success, voluntary minorities are more likely to do better in school than other migrating minorities.[36] Adapting to a very different culture and language makes difficulties in the early stages of life in the new country. Voluntary immigrants do not experience a sense of divided identity as much as involuntary minorities and are often rich in social capital because of their educational ambitions.[38] Major immigrant groups in the United States include Mexicans, Central and South Americans, Cubans, Africans, East Asians, and South Asians.[37]
The term sexual minority is frequently used by public health researchers to recognize a wide variety of individuals who engage in same-sex sexual behavior, including those who do not identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. For example, men who have sex with men (MSM), but do not identify as gay. In addition, the term gender minorities can include many types ofgender variant people, such asintersex people,transgender people, or non-binary individuals. However, the terms sexual and gender minority are often not preferred by LGBTQ+ people, as they represent clinical categories rather than individual identity.[39]
Thoughlesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender, andqueer (LGBTQ+) people have existed throughout human history, they represent a numerical and social minority. They experience numeroussocial inequalities stemming from their group membership as LGBTQ+ people. LGBTQ+ rights movements across many western countries led to the recognition of LGBTQ+ people as members of a minority group.[39] These inequalities include social discrimination and isolation, unequal access tohealthcare, employment, and housing, and experience negative mental and physical health outcomes due to these experiences.[39]
Leading up to theHuman Rights Act 1998 in the UK, a rise in the awareness relating to how disabled people were being treated began. Many started to believe that they were being denied basic human rights. This act had a section that stated if authorities did not protect people with learning disabilities from others' actions, such as harm or neglect, then they could be prosecuted.[40]
Thedisability rights movement has contributed to an understanding of disabled people as a minority or a coalition of minorities who are disadvantaged by society, not just as people who are disadvantaged by their impairments. Advocates of disability rights emphasize the difference in physical or psychological functioning rather than inferiority. For example, someautistic people argue for acceptance ofneurodiversity, much as opponents ofracism argue for acceptance of ethnic diversity. Thedeaf community is often regarded as a linguistic and cultural minority rather than a group with disabilities, and somedeaf people do not see themselves as having a disability at all. Rather, they are disadvantaged by technologies and social institutions designed to cater to the dominant group. (See theConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.)
People belonging to religious minorities have a faith that is different from that held by the majority. Most countries of the world have religious minorities. It is now widely accepted inthe West that people should have the freedom to choose their religion,[citation needed] including the right to convert from one religion to another, or not to have any religion (atheism and/oragnosticism). However, in many countries, this freedom is constricted. InEgypt, a new system of identity cards[41] requires all citizens to state their religion—and the only choices areIslam,Christianity, orJudaism (SeeEgyptian identification card controversy).
In most societies, numbers of men and womenare roughly equal. Though women are not considered to be a minority,[42] the status of women, as a subordinate group, has led to many social scientists to refer to them as a disadvantaged group.[43] Though women's legal rights and status vary widely across countries, women often experience social inequalities, relative to men, in various societies.[44] Women are sometimes denied access to education and access to the same opportunities as men, especially in under-developed countries.[45]
The various minority groups in a country are often not given equal treatment. Some groups are too small or indistinct to obtain minority protections. For example, a member of a particularly small ethnic group might be forced to check "Other" on a checklist of different backgrounds and so 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 forrace and ethnicity on its official census forms, which thus breaks up and organizes its population into sub-groups, primarily racial rather than national.Spain does not divide its nationals by ethnic group or national minorities, although it does maintain an official notion of minority languages, that is one of the criteria for to determine a national minority, upon theFramework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
Some especially significant or powerful minorities receive comprehensive protection and political representation. For example, the former Yugoslav Republic ofBosnia and Herzegovina recognizes the three constitutive nations, none of which constitutes a numerical majority (seenations of Bosnia and Herzegovina). However, other minorities such asRoma[46] andJews, are officially labelled "foreign" and are excluded from many of these protections. For example, they may be excluded from political positions, including the presidency.[47]
There is debate over recognizing minority groups and their privileges. One view[48] is that the application of special rights to minority groups may harm some countries, such as new states in Africa or Latin America not founded on the Europeannation-state model, since minority recognition may interfere with establishing a national identity. It may hamper the integration of the minority into mainstream society, perhaps leading toseparatism orsupremacism. InCanada, some[who?] feel that the failure of the dominantEnglish-speaking majority to integrateFrench Canadians has provokedQuebec separatism.
Others assert that minorities require specific protections to ensure that they are not marginalized: for example,bilingual education may be needed to allow linguistic minorities to fully integrate into the school system and compete equally in society. In this view, rights for minorities strengthen the nation-building project, as members of minorities see their interests well served, and willingly accept the legitimacy of the nation and their integration (not assimilation) within it.[49]
^Healey, Joseph F. (2 March 2018).Race, ethnicity, gender, & class : the sociology of group conflict and change. Stepnick, Andi; O'Brien, Eileen, 1972– (Eighth ed.). Thousand Oaks, California.ISBN9781506346946.OCLC1006532841.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Hughes, Melanie (2011). "Intersectionality, Quotas, and Minority Women's Political Representation Worldwide".American Political Science Review.3 (105):604–620.doi:10.1017/S0003055411000293.S2CID2592368.
^Skrentny, John David (2002).The minority rights revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674043732.OCLC431342257.
^abWirth, L. (1945). "The Problem of Minority Groups". In Linton, Ralph (ed.).The Science of Man in the World Crisis. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 347. The political scientist and law professor, Gad Barzilai, has offered a theoretical definition of non-ruling communities that conceptualizes groups that do not rule and are excluded from resources of political power. Barzilai, G.Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
^Protsyk, Oleh (2010).The representation of minorities and indigenous peoples in parliament : a global overview. Inter-parliamentary Union.627. Geneva: Inter-parliamentary Union.OCLC754152959.
^Lyal S. Sunga (2004).International Criminal Law: Protection of Minority Rights, Beyond a One-Dimensional State: An Emerging Right to Autonomy? ed. Zelim Skurbaty. (2004) 255–275.
^du Toit, Pierre; Theron, François (1988). "Ethnic and minority groups, and constitutional change in South Africa".Journal of Contemporary African Studies.7 (1–2):133–147.doi:10.1080/02589008808729481.ISSN0258-9001.
^"Race, Ethnicity, and Politics".In lieu of de jure segregation, various manifestations of de facto segregation persist to this day ... In contrast to de jure segregation, de facto segregation occurs as a result of social practices that, although not codified in law, have a similar outcome in terms of maintaining the separation of a minority group from the majority group.
^Shachar, Ayelet (2001).Multicultural jurisdictions : cultural differences and women's rights. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0511040801.OCLC56216656.
^For example, J.A. Lindgren-Alves, member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, speaking at the Committee's 67th Session (Summary Record of the 1724th Meeting, 23 August 2005, CERD/C/SR.1724)
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