minority. In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Minority group status is also categorical in nature: an individual who exhibits 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 minority group. McNamee, Stephen J., and Robert K. Miller, Jr. 2013.
In each case, such an identity or social characteristic will identify that individual as belonging to a group with a collective disadvantage or a group that is the object of collective discrimination, exploitation, or stigma. Race is fundamentally a social construct. While in most societies, numbers of men and women are roughly equal, the status of women as a subordinate group has led some to equate them with minorities. Ethnic Minority Disparities in Cancer Treatment: Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson discusses minority health research at the National Institute of Health. Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant.
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. The Problem of Minority Groups. The Science of Man in the World Crisis, edited by R. Linton: 347. 8th ed. New York: Columbia University Press. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. The Deaf community is often regarded as a linguistic and cultural minority rather than a disabled group, and many Deaf people do not see themselves as disabled at all. ", The Michigan Sociological Review (MSR) is an official publication of the Michigan Sociological Association (MSA). "Current Population SurveyAnnual Demographic Survey.
"Is" it time for a new quiz? New York, NY: Routledge. ASA American Sociological Association (5th edition). Cambridge: Polity. APA American Psychological Association (6th edition), minority. The term minority doesnt necessarily refer to a numeric minority.
Goldmann, Gustave. When considering skin color, for example, the social construction of race perspective recognizes that the relative darkness or fairness of skin is an evolutionary adaptation to the available sunlight in different regions of the world. % Outline. MLA Modern Language Association (7th edition). Moreover, possible alternative terms also pose problems: it is not clear, for example, that subordinate conveys a more positive image than minority. All Rights Reserved 5th ed. 1996 Michigan Sociological Association 2 0 obj 2016. How Has The Nation Changed Since The Insurrection At The Capitol?
It may also occur indirectly, due to social structures that are not equally accessible to all. 2013. The term queer is sometimes understood as an umbrella term for all non-normative sexualities and gender expressions, but does not always seek to be understood as a minority; rather, as with many Gay Liberationists of the 1960s and 70s, it sometimes represents an attempt to uncover and embrace the sexual diversity in everyone. a racial, ethnic, religious, or social subdivision of a society that is subordinated in political, financial, or social power by the dominant group, without regard to the size of these groups: legislation aimed at providing equal rights for minorities. The MSA is a member of the National Council of State Sociological Associations and is recognized by the American Sociological Association as an Aligned Scholarly Association.
The Emperors New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium. Zelim Skurbaty)(2004) 255-275. However, although minorities are defined on the basis of groups, the consequences are very real for individuals (Goldman, 2001). While the majority pulled in one way there was an active minority that wished the Nana to set up an independent kingdom. Ethnicity, like race, continues to be an identification method that individuals and institutions use todaywhether through the census, affirmative action initiatives, nondiscrimination laws, or simply in personal day-to-day relations. (noun) A definable category of people who share an identity or status and are subject to prejudice, discrimination, and oppression. Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives. Some minorities are so relatively large or historically or otherwise important that the system is set up in a way to ensure complete equality. Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. Latinos, the fastest growing minority group in America, are even more underrepresented in Congress.
It is now accepted in many multicultural societies around the world that people should have the freedom to choose their own religion, including not having any religion (atheism or agnosticism), and including the right to convert from one religion to another. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://sociologydictionary.org/minority/. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. Conditions comorbid to autism spectrum disorders, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, British Journal of Educational Psychology, British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, Eurominority - Organization for the European Minorities (Stateless Nations and national minorities), ECMI - European Centre for Minority Issues, From Paris to Cairo: Resistance of the Unacculturated. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/minority/, Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition). 2011.Essentials of Sociology. Caver, Helen Bush, and Mary T. Williams. The Open Education Sociology Dictionary (OESD) is a free online dictionary for students, teachers, & the curious to find meanings, examples, pronunciations, word origins, & quotations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. term minorities. Wikipedia contributors. It is individual human beings who are denied employment, schooling, or housing because of their race, disability, or sexual orientation, persecuted because of their religious beliefs, ridiculed because of their language, or underpaid because of their sex. 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. In socioeconomics, the term "minority" typically refers to a socially subordinate ethnic group (understood in terms of language, nationality, religion and/or culture). Why do you think the term minority has persisted when the word subordinate is more descriptive?
4 0 obj Sociologist 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 the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination. Table PINC-05.
"Are" you ready? Ethnicity is a term that describes shared culture and national origin. The term "minority group" often occurs alongside a discourse of civil rights and collective rights which gained prominence in the 20th century. Comparative Ethnic Relations: A Framework for Theory and Research. Discussion thus far has focused on groups because minority or majority status is defined on the basis of belonging to an identifiable group in society. 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. 1951. A number of objections have been raised, including the following: (1) since such status is not defined on the basis of numbers, minority is not a correct term; (2) the term minority can be a negative label and defines the groups so labeled from the standpoint of the dominant group; (3) groups with little in common, such as African-Americans and white women, are lumped together under one rather meaningless label; (4) the criteria used to define minorities are ambiguous and inconsistent; (5) the statuses that form the basis of defining minority groups include both true ascribed statuses and statuses that involve an element of choice (e.g., religious belief); and (6) the term minority obscures the very real impacts of racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination, using an ill-defined term to focus on groups rather than on systemic discrimination. Retrieved December 1, 2011 (http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/womminor.html). a smaller party or group opposed to a majority, as in voting or other action. For example, ethnic groups such as Irish, Italian American, Russian, Jewish, and Serbian might all be groups whose members are predominantly included in the white racial category. The Disability 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. 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). Its hopeless. Michigan Sociological Review Despite these genuine difficulties with the term, it continues to be used widely, both in social science and in popular terminology.
The disability rights movement has contributed to an understanding of people with disabilities as a minority or a coalition of minorities who are disadvantaged by society, not just as people who are disadvantaged by their impairments. The abbreviation LGBT is currently used to group these identities together. While each group considered a minority experiences these processes in a unique way, all such groups experience them to a greater or lesser degree. 2016. Their labels for racial groups have connoted regions (Mongolia and the Caucus Mountains, for instance) or skin tones (black, white, yellow, and red, for example). Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 1985. 10.3A: Minority Groups is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts. Blauner, Robert. Toronto: Pearson. These definitions correlate to the concept that the dominant group is that which holds the most power in a given society, while subordinate groups are those who lack power compared to the dominant group. The earlier political connotations emphasizing power relations are being obscured as individuals claiming to have been victimized are treated as "minorities. Michigan Sociological Review 10 (1996): 1831. (ed. Sociology. Affirmative action is a controversial issue, which refers to policies that take factors including race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/). Research in this school of thought suggests that race is not biologically identifiable and that previous racial categories were arbitrarily assigned, based on pseudoscience, and used to justify racist practices (Omi and Winant 1994; Graves 2003). 2013. The History of England from the Accession of James II. Available on the World Wide Web at http://ferret.bls.census.gov/macro/032002. Please visit our website: http://www.gvsu.edu/msr. Note that being a numerical minority is not a characteristic of being a minority group; sometimes larger groups can be considered minority groups due to their lack of power. By the 1960s, women were included as the "minority that is a majority." While in most societies the numbers of men and women are roughly equal, the status of women as a oppressed group has led some, such as feminists and other participants in womens rights movements, to identify them as a minority group. (February 22, 2014). Other minority groups include people with disabilities, "economic minoritites" (working poor or unemployed), "age minorities" (who are younger or older than a typical working age) and sexual minorities (whose sexual orientation or gender identity differs from the sociological norm).
(http://en.wiktionary.org). The debate is likely to continue into the future. Request Permissions, Published By: Michigan Sociological Association, Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2022, Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition Macionis, John. A Veterans View: NYC Cold War Between Cops and City Hall, How Public Sector Unions Divide the Democrats, Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland. The term ethnicity is difficult to describe and its meaning has changed over time. 1945. Accessibility StatementFor more information contact us atinfo@libretexts.orgor check out our status page at https://status.libretexts.org. 2003. Boston: Pearson. These experiences include victimization, discrimination, exploitation, and political and economic disadvantage. endobj Wikimedia Foundation. In Hacker, Helen Mayer. [1] In addition, various gender variant people can be seen as constituting a minority group or groups, such as intersexuals, transsexuals, and gender nonconformists especially when such phenomena are understood as intrinsic characteristics of an identifiable group. Veterans are a small minority of the population, as well, serving the greater whole. A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority it may include any group that is disadvantaged with respect to a dominant group in terms of social status, education, employment, wealth and political power.
Creoles. Multicultural America, Countries and Their Cultures, December 7. Proponents of the polices argue that the end resulta more diversified student bodyjustifies the means. Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. Work Experience in 2001People 15 Years Old and Over by Total Money Earnings in 2001, Age, Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex."
Today the term is increasingly used in popular language to refer to an individual. Then prove your excellent skills on using "is" vs. the school of thought that race is not biologically identifiable, shared culture, which may include heritage, language, religion, and more, any group of people who are singled out from the others for differential and unequal treatment, a group of people who have more power in a society than any of the subordinate groups, a group of people who have less power than the dominant group. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
A search of the EBSCO Academic Search Elite database in May 2003 yielded 11,822 hits on the 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.
In some places, subordinate ethnic groups may constitute a numerical majority, such as Blacks in South Africa under apartheid. The minority of Republicans who think otherwise might survive the next round of primaries, but they show no ability to move the 88 to 95 percent of the party out. This culture might include shared language, religion, and traditions, among other commonalities. 5th ed. One reason for this common use (though also a point of objection from critics of its scientific validity) is that it has been reified through governmental protections for a wide range of groups labeled as "minorities." And as with race, individuals may be identified or self-identify with ethnicities in complex, even contradictory, ways. A minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant plurality of the total population of a given society. It also publishes research and pedagogical comments, reviews of books, films, videos, educational software, and keynote speeches of the annual meeting of the MSA. Giddens, Anthony, and Philip W. Sutton. Though that party may be a minority of the faithful few, the members are enough to continue the organization. 1994. Wilkinson, Doris.
Introduction to Sociology 2e. Wirth, Louis. Children can also be understood as a minority group in these terms, though due to their lack of knowledge and education, they don't argue for civil rights. Retrieved July 22, 2022 (https://sociologydictionary.org/minority/). Persons belonging to religious minorities have a faith which is different from that held by the majority population or the population group that is in power. 2011.Sociology: The Essentials. Quotas don't exist anymore in public universities. See also Discrimination; Ethnicity and Race; Identity; Prejudice. The deaf community is often regarded as a linguistic and cultural minority rather than a group with disabilities, and some deaf people do not see themselves as having a disability at all. 22 Jul. In addition to long-established ethnic minority populations in various nation-states, ethnic minorities may consist of more recent migrant, indigenous, or landless nomadic communities residing within, or between, a particular national territory. They may be migrant, indigenous or landless nomadic communities. 3 0 obj Brym, Robert J., and John Lie.
The problem of environmental racism in Mexico today is rooted in history. The Michigan Sociological Association publishes the Michigan Sociological Review. Bell, Kenton, ed. a group in society distinguished from, and less dominant than, the more numerous majority: The ethnic minority was disproportionately affected by the reduction in preventative medical services.
Minorities in the New World: Six Case Studies. Bell, Kenton, ed. Although it is still too early to know whether these steps will improve lives in minority communities, they represent one effort to tackle a long-standing problem around the globe. 2012. [ "article:topic", "showtoc:no", "license:ccbysa", "columns:two" ], https://socialsci.libretexts.org/@app/auth/3/login?returnto=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialsci.libretexts.org%2FBookshelves%2FSociology%2FIntroduction_to_Sociology%2FBook%253A_Sociology_(Boundless)%2F10%253A_Race_and_Ethnicity%2F10.03%253A_Minorities%2F10.3A%253A_Minority_Groups, \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}}}\) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fauqd81FKbI, status page at https://status.libretexts.org. ", First recorded in 14501500; late Middle English, from Middle French, Dictionary.com Unabridged Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 1958. In this case, while minority status can be conditioned by a clear numerical difference, more significantly it refers to issues of political power. ), Open education sociology dictionary. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 1 0 obj N.p., Retrieved October 9, 2014 (http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/). Houston, TX: OpenStax. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 419.76 595.44] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Women as a Minority Group. 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. The hope is Garrison can help Austin improve these and other issues, as the Pentagon needs to lift qualified minorities to more positions of power and keep extremists out of uniform.
Legal. The Americans had some great British leaders on their side, but they were definitely in the minority. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 HarperCollins Racial Oppression in America. The issue of establishing minority groups, and determining the extent of privileges they might derive from their status, is controversial. 6th ed. Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Methane to Molecular clockMinority - Widening The Definition, Minority Status And The Individual, Bibliography, Copyright 2022 Web Solutions LLC. 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. There, many minority parents supported Tom Torklarson, who favored the education reform agenda. Wagley, Charles, and Marvin Harris. An understanding of lesbian, homo, bisexual and transgender people as a minority group or groups has gained prominence in the Western world since the 19th century. CC LICENSED CONTENT, SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTION. The acronym LGBT is currently used to group these identities together. endobj Rather, they are disadvantaged by technologies and social institutions that are designed to cater to the dominant, hearing-unimpaired group. 154 in The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology, edited by G. Ritzer and J. Ryan. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1991. Conversely, the ethnic group British includes citizens from a multiplicity of racial backgrounds: black, white, Asian, and more, plus a variety of race combinations. Advocates of disability rights emphasise difference in physical or psychological functioning, rather than inferiority for example, some people with Autism argue for acceptance of neurodiversity, much as opponents of racism argue for acceptance of ethnic diversity, and the homosexual community argue for acceptance of sexual diversity. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open practices. While I think that is not wrong, I also think that the line for a small minority of the GOP has gotten brighter. 3rd ed. It is also subjectively applied by its members, who may use their status as the basis of group identity or solidarity.
In some places, subordinate ethnic groups may constitute a numerical majority, such as blacks in South Africa under apartheid. In the social sciences, minority does not just refer to a statistical measure and can instead refer to categories of persons who hold few or no positions of social power in a given society. Web. 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. While many students first entering a sociology classroom are accustomed to conflating the terms race, ethnicity, and minority group, these three terms have distinct meanings for sociologists. International law governs the rights of minority groups, and international criminal law contains can protect the rights of racial or ethnic minorities in a number of ways. Terms of Use, http://ferret.bls.census.gov/macro/032002, Minority - Widening The Definition, Minority Status And The Individual, Bibliography. With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. Want to adapt books like this? Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. However in some countries this freedom is still either formally restricted or subject to cultural bias from the majority population. To avoid confusion, some writers prefer the terms "subordinate group" and "dominant group" rather than "minority" and "majority". The term minority connotes discrimination, and in its sociological use, the term subordinate group can be used interchangeably with the term minority, while the term dominant group is often substituted for the group thats in the majority. Rather, they are disabled by technologies and social institutions that are designed to cater for the dominant group. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Oxford University Press. Do you consider yourself multiethnic? Schermerhorn, Richard A. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
V+/JWk/;/{i[zk5?>..P\5 7{m:Pq_-+>; {dU|=B]U{^i7E5H 8'c6JU(?,tYUjyG>*?6l JHjtM+-$&`0;^d=q`\2TZ0[Ya4@ i6fA^. How does your ethnicity compare to that of the people you spend most of your time with? Statistical Journal of the UN Economic Commission for Europe 18, nos. Social science organizations including the American Association of Anthropologists, the American Sociological Association, and the American Psychological Association have all taken an official position rejecting the biological explanations of race. Rothschild's Introduction to Sociology by Teal Rothschild is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. and its Licensors diversity. Pp. One big hiccup in US efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines? It is the lack of power that is the predominant characteristic of a minority, or subordinate group. 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. Stop trying to save the GOP. On the other hand, someone with low levels of melanin might be assigned the identity of black if he or she has little education or money. As both a parochial as well as interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal. Speakers of a legally-recognized minority language, for instance, might have the right to education or communication with the government in their mother tongue. Recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a minority group or groups has gained prominence in the Western world since the nineteenth century. MSR is indexed in the Sociological Abstracts and is globally distributed. 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. Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. Members of minority groups are subject to differential treatment in the society in which they live. The term queer is sometimes understood as an umbrella term for all non-normative sexualities and gender expressions but does not always signify a minority; rather, as with many gay rights activists of the 1960s and 1970s, it sometimes represents an attempt to highlight sexual diversity in everyone. 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. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. 2011. Affirmative action can, for example, take the form of a government program to provide immigrant or minority groups who primarily speak a marginalized language with extra teaching in the majority language, so that they are better able to compete for places at university or for jobs. 2022. Spain does not divide its nationals by ethnic group, although it does maintain an official notion of minority languages. Contemporary conceptions of race, therefore, which tend to be based on socioeconomic assumptions, illuminate how far removed modern understanding of race is from biological qualities. 2 (2002): 2134. The social construction of race is also reflected in the way names for racial categories change with changing times. Kenton Bell. CNN Library. 2011. Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or national origin into account in order to benefit an underrepresented group. The concept "minority" developed in the language of political science with the rise of nationalism in Europe during the Nineteenth century. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. To access this article, please, Access everything in the JPASS collection, Download up to 10 article PDFs to save and keep, Download up to 120 article PDFs to save and keep. The call for papers appears each year in the American Sociological Associations Footnotes. the smaller in number of two parts, factions, or groups, a group that is different racially, politically, etc, from a larger group of which it is a part, the period during which a person is below legal age, The Pentagon is taking a major step to deal with its diversity problems. Stevens, Gillian. <>>> This discrimination may be directly based on an individual's perceived membership of a minority group, without consideration of that individual's personal achievement. Racial Formation in the United States: from the 1960s to the 1990s (2nd ed.). Every large society contains ethnic minorities. endobj Ethnic Minority Disparities in Cancer Treatment. Graves, Joseph. In Canada, some feel that the failure of the dominant English-speaking majority to assimilate French Canadians has given rise to Quebec separatism. Minority groups are defined by their lack of power.