Minority whose main occupations link producers and consumers
Amiddleman minority is a minority population whose main occupationslink producers and consumers: traders, money-lenders, service providers, etc. This often results in the minority having a disproportionately large role in trade, finance or commerce, without holding the significant political power associated with adominant minority.
A middleman minority does not hold an "extreme subordinate" status in society,[1] but may suffer discrimination and bullying for being perceived as outsiders to both elite and majority populations.[2] Middleman minorities are more likely to emerge in stratified or colonial societies, where significant power gaps may exist between dominant elites and subordinate consumers, thereby fulfilling a niche within the economic status gap.[1]
Middleman minorities often are associated with stereotypes of greed orclannishness.[3] During periods of economic or political instability, middleman minorities often arouse the hostility of their host society or are used as scapegoats, which has been theorized by Bonacich to perpetuate a reluctance to assimilate completely.[4] Economic nationalism or exclusion from gainful employment can further reinforce tendencies to start businesses or create new economic value outside of existing value chains.[5][6]
The "middleman minority" concept was developed by sociologistsHubert Blalock andEdna Bonacich in the 1960s and by following political scientists and economists.[7]
The majority of the 19th and early 20th centuriesMiddle Eastern immigrants to Brazil (Lebanese, Syrians, etc., collectively called "arabes" or "turcos", the latter term because they came from theOttoman Empire) were peddlers, merchants and other types of non-"producers".[13]
World on Fire, which discusses the similar concept of "market-dominant minorities"
Yuri Slezkine's bookThe Jewish Century (2004) discussed the concept of "Mercurian" people "specializ[ing] exclusively in providing services to the surrounding food-producing societies," which are characterized as "Apollonians"
^Min, Pyong Gap (2013). "Middleman entrepreneurs".Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 161–168.ISBN9780203863299.
^Douglas, Karen Manges; Saenz, Rogelio."Middleman Minorities"(PDF).International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (2nd ed.).Archived(PDF) from the original on 2010-06-22.
^Freitag, Ulrike (1999). "Hadhramaut: A Religious Centre for the Indian Ocean in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries?".Studia Islamica (89):165–183.doi:10.2307/1596090.JSTOR1596090.
^Manger, Leif (2010).The Hadrami diaspora: Community-building on the Indian Ocean rim. Berghahn Books.ISBN9781845459789.OCLC732958389.
Silverman, Robert Mark. 2000. Doing Business in Minority Markets: Black and Korean Entrepreneurs in Chicago’s Ethnic Beauty Aids Industry. New York: Garland Publishing.
