Page 306 - Sociology and You

276
Unit 3 Social Inequality
Section 1
Minority, Race, and Ethnicity
Key Terms
Section
Section
Minorities
• minority • race
• ethnic minority
Preview
Preview
Sociologists have specific definitions particular to their field of study for minor- ity, race, and ethnicity. Ethnic minorities have historically been subjected to prejudice and discrimination.
minority
a group of people with physical or cultural traits different from those of the dominant group in the society
Which of these teens are members of a minority group? Explain why.
Imagine that one evening, you and eight friends are unable to decide whether to go bowling or to the movies. Being a democratic group, you decide to put the question to a vote. If only three of you vote for the show,
the movie fans—being fewer in number—will make up a minority.
But numbers alone are not the basis of the sociological definition of minority. Women in the United States outnumber males, and yet they are still referred to as a minority. Blacks in South Africa and in many large cities in the United States are minority populations even though they outnumber the white population. For sociologists, then, a minority population is defined by
something more than size or number.
What are the characteristics of a minority? In 1945, sociologist Louis
Wirth offered the following definition of minority:
We may define a minority 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 discrimi- nation. The existence of a minority in a society implies the existence of a corresponding dominant group with higher social status and greater privileges. Minority carries with it the exclusion from full participation in the life of the society.
A minority, then, has several key features.
1. A minority has distinctive physical or cultural characteristics which can be used to separate it from the majority. Physical characteristics may include such things as skin color, facial features, and disabilities. Cultural characteristics may include accent, religion, language, and parentage. In the past, some people have been forced to carry papers or wear badges that marked them as members of a minority. For example, during the Nazi regime, Jews in German-occupied countries were forced to wear yellow stars to separate them from non-Jewish citizens.
2. The minority is dominated by the majority. Because the majority is the dominating group, it holds an unequal share of the desired goods, services, and privileges. Further, minority members have fewer opportunities to get these goods and services. The best jobs are hard for minorities to get because of a lack of education or unfair hiring practices.