Minority group is distinguished by being on the margins of power,
status or the allocation of resources within the society.
‘Visible minority’ refer to those racial or ethnic
groups in a society which are marginal from the power and economic structure of society,
not to those which are few in number. In South Africa, Blacks are the statistical majority
but were for countless decades a social minority. Women can also be identified as a social
minority group.
A small group of people differing from the rest of a community
in ethnic origin, religion, language, or culture; a member of such a group.
A Comparison of the Experiences of Dominant and Minority
Group Members during an Intergroup Encounter
Laur'i L. Hyers, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University,
LLH112@psu.edu
Janet K. Swim, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
Focusing on the immediate effects of the intergroup situation on participants' anxiety,
affect, cognitions, and task involvement, comparisons were made between the experiences of
minority group members (African-Americans) and dominant group members (European-Americans)
during intergroup encounters of varied group composition (i.e. participants held either
solo or non-solo status). The group composition manipulation had very little effect
overall. However, regardless of group composition, European-American participants were
more adversely affected than African-American participants, as evidenced by cognitive and
task involvement variables. African-American participants' experiences may have been less
adverse due to their greater intergroup experience and more effective use of intergroup
coping strategies such as mindfulness. - gpi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/2/143
Interpersonal Concerns in Social Encounters between Majority and Minority Group
Members
J. Nicole Shelton, Princeton University
Dyadic interactions between Whites and Blacks were examined. Whites' concern about
appearing prejudiced was manipulated by informing Whites that it was extremely important
not to be prejudiced during the interaction. Blacks' concern about being the target of
prejudice was manipulated by informing them that their dyadic partner was prejudiced
against Blacks. The findings show that these two concerns differentially impacted
individuals' own and their partner's experiences in the interaction. Specifically, Whites
who tried not to be prejudiced experienced more anxiety and enjoyed the interaction less,
but were liked more by their Black partner. Additionally, Blacks who believed their
partner was prejudiced enjoyed the interaction more, and their White partner experienced
less anxiety and enjoyed the interaction more. The implications of these findings for
interpersonal intergroup encounters are discussed. -
gpi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/2/171
Minority Group Status and Healthful Aging: Social Structure Still Matters
Jacqueline L. Angel, PhD and Ronald J. Angel, PhD
During the last 4 decades, a rapid increase has occurred in the number of survey-based and
epidemiological studies of the health profiles of adults in general and of the causes of
disparities between majority and minority Americans in particular. According to these
studies, healthful aging consists of the absence of disease, or at least of the most
serious preventable diseases and their consequences, and findings consistently reveal
serious African American and Hispanic disadvantages in terms of healthful aging.
We (1) briefly review conceptual and operational definitions of race and Hispanic
ethnicity, (2) summarize how ethnicity-based differentials in health are related to social
structures, and (3) emphasize the importance of attention to the economic, political, and
institutional factors that perpetuate poverty and undermine healthful aging among certain
groups. - ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/7/1152
Minority Group, Majority Space
Negotiating Jewish Identity in a Southern Christian Context
Marianne Cutler, East Stroudsburg University
Based on an ethnographic study of young-adult Jews in a Southern community, this article
examines strategies for the protection of self when minority groups navigate terrain that
is perceived to be hostile. Although few of the participants of this study had experienced
any explicitly anti-Jewish behavior directly, almost all experienced a feeling of unease
living in an environment in which a public Christian identity was normative. This unease
was grounded in the historical persecution of Jews (and the never-again credo with which
many post-Holocaust generation Jews have been raised) and in direct experience with their
neighbors' and coworkers' ignorance about Judaism and Jewish life. Study participants used
a variety of emotion-work strategies, including compartmentalizing their Jewish
identities, distancing themselves emotionally from coworkers, and using humor to deflect
potential identity-based insults to sustain a sense of safety. -
jce.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/6/696
Minority Group Status of the Disabled
Ellen C. Wertlieb, State University of New York at Cortland
An analysis of the definition of minority group indicated that the disabled can be
considered as holding that status. Further exploration of the similarities and differences
between the disabled and other minority groups yielded an array of factors which can have
profound effects on every disabled person. The importance of using this information in a
practical way was stressed. - hum.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/38/11/1047
A Framework for Investigating Minority Group Influence in Urban School Reform
Toni Griego Jones, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Minority students in urban schools have the most to gain if efforts at reforming urban
school systems work and the most to lose if nothing changes. Yet research on educational
reform has not addressed how minority communities influence decisions about how to change
their children's schools. Thus far, research has dealt only with how reform affects
minority students and communities, not with how minority groups affect the planning of
reform. This article offers a more active perspective. It investigates how a minority
group might influence the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of urban school
reform and suggests a framework for that influence. -
uex.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/29/4/375
Stages of Ethnic Identity Development in Minority Group Adolescents
Jean S. Phinney, California State University, Los Angeles
Stages of ethnic identity development were assessed through in-depth interviews with 91
Asian-American, Black, Hispanic, and White tenth-grade students, all American born, from
integrated urban high schools. Subjects were also given questionnaire measures of ego
identity and psychological adjustment. On the basis of the interviews, minority subjects
were coded as being in one of three identity stages; White subjects could not be reliably
coded. Among the minorities, about one-half of the subjects had not explored their
ethnicity (diffusion/foreclosure); about one-quarter were involved in exploration
(moratorium); and about one-quarter had explored and were committed to an ethnic identity
(ethnic identity achieved). Ethnic-identity-achieved subjects had the highest scores on an
independent measure of ego identity and on psychological adjustment. The process of
identity development was similar across the three minority groups, but the particular
issues faced by each group were different. - jea.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/9/1-2/34
Minority Group Status, Health Transitions, and Community Living Arrangements among the
Elderly
Ronald J. Angel, University of Texas at Austin
Jacqueline L. Angel, University of Texas at Austin
Christine L. Himes, Pennsylvania State University
This study examines patterns of change in functional capacity among Black and non-Latino
White older persons over a 4-year period using the 1988 Longitudinal Study of Aging. The
results reveal that among all three groups, improvements in functional capacity often
follow declines, but they also show that Blacks are more likely than non-Latino Whites to
suffer protracted declines in functional capacity, ultimately resulting in more serious
incapacity. The central objective of the article is the development of a conceptual model
to identify those factors that account for racial and ethnic group differences in health
and functional capacity as well as the documented greater propensity of Black and Latino
elderly to rely on informal sources of support in the community rather than on formal
long-term care. - roa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/496
Characteristics of Minority Group Families Who Have Tried to Move Into White
Neighborhoods
By S. Lynn Clark and James H. Kirk
Abstract.—In a survey of 686 minority group families, there were 97, or 14 pet cent
of the total sample, who had tried to move into white neighborhoods. Some of these had
been successful, while the efforts of others had been thwarted for various reasons. An
analysis of the characteristics of this 14 pet cent shows many interesting social as well
as economic traits. The attitude that members of minority groups want to be isolated with
their own finds little justification. Of particular interest are the deviations from the
total survey group that this 14 per cent revealed. - blackwell-synergy.com |