Dominant-Minority Relations

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Dominant-Minority RelationsQuestions for Discussion

How does the concept of group identity have positive or negative consequences?

How does the subjective nature of the criminal justice system impact on minority groups?

What causes negative self-image, how does it manifest itself, and what may prevent its occurrence?

Explain what is meant by the vicious circle and find examples.

prepared by S. Saterfield

Dominant-Minority RelationsQuestions for Discussion

What is the concept of marginality? Including factors that can reduce its negative effects.

What is meant by middleman minorities? What are some of the dominant response

patterns to minority groups? What is the internal colonialism theory?

Apply it to two American minority groups? Describe the split labor market theory and

its impact on some forms of ethnic antagonism.

prepared by S. Saterfield

Questions We Will Explore

What are some common minority group responses to prejudice and discrimination?

What are some consequences of minority group status?

What are some common dominant group responses to minorities?

Discuss three conflict viewpoints about the exploitation of minorities. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Minority Group Responses to Prejudice and Discrimination

Minority group responses to prejudice and discrimination include avoidance, deviance, defiance, acceptance, and negative self-image.

Avoidance is a minority group response to prejudice and discrimination by migrating or withdrawing to escape further problems. Copyright

© Allyn & Bacon 2003

Responses to Prejudice and Discrimination (cont’d)

When a minority group continually experiences rejection and discrimination, some of its members can’t identify with the dominant society or accept its norms. People at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, particularly members of victimized racial and ethnic groups, may respond to the pressure of everyday life in ways they consider reasonable but others view as deviance (characteristics or behavior violating social norms and thereby negatively valued by many people in that society). Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Responses to Prejudice and Discrimination (cont’d)

Acceptance is a minority’s response to prejudice and discrimination based on powerlessness, fear for personal safety, or economic security, or fatalism. Although acceptance maintains the superior position in society of the dominant group and the subordinate position of the minority group, it does diminish the open tensions and conflicts between the two groups. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Responses to Prejudice and Discrimination (continued)

If a minority group is sufficiently cohesive and conscious of its growing economic or political power, its members may act openly to challenge and eliminate discriminatory practices—defiance (a peaceful or violent action to challenge openly what a group considers a discriminatory practice). In defying discrimination, the minority group takes a strong stance regarding its position in the society. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Consequences of Minority Group Status

Minority groups that experience sustained Minority groups that experience sustained inequality face four possible outcomes: inequality face four possible outcomes:

----negative self-image, negative self-image, ----a vicious circle of continued a vicious circle of continued

discrimination, discrimination, marginality, and marginality, and ----status as middleman minorities.status as middleman minorities.

Negative self image is the result of social conditioning or differential treatment or both, causing people or groups to believe themselves inferior. Copyright

© Allyn & Bacon 2003

Consequences of Minority Group Status (cont’d)

Sometimes the relationship between prejudice and discrimination is circular. A discriminatory action leads to a minority reaction, which in turn reinforces the dominant group attitude that the minority group is inferior, leading to more discrimination that is, a vicious circle of continued discrimination. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Consequences of Minority Group Status (cont’d)

Minority group members sometimes find themselves caught in a conflict between their own identity and values and the necessity to behave in a certain way to gain acceptance by the dominant group. This situation— marginality—usually arises when a member of a minority group is passing through a transitional period. In attempting to enter the mainstream of society, the marginal person internalizes the dominant group’s cultural patterns without having gained full acceptance. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Consequences of Minority Group Status (cont’d)

Middleman Minority is a minority group occupying an intermediate occupational position in trade or commerce between the top and bottom strata. Middleman groups often serve as buffers, and hence experience hostility and conflict from above and below. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Dominant Group Responses to Minorities

Dominant group actions toward the minority Dominant group actions toward the minority group may take various forms, including group may take various forms, including favorable, indifferent, or negative response. favorable, indifferent, or negative response. (Negative responses follow).(Negative responses follow).

When the reaction is negative, the group in power When the reaction is negative, the group in power may place restraints on the minority group (e.g.: may place restraints on the minority group (e.g.: legislative controls and segregation). legislative controls and segregation). Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Dominant Group Responses to Minorities (cont’d)

If the reaction becomes more emotional or xenophobic (irrational fear of or contempt for strangers or foreigners),

expulsion (the forced removal of a group from an area), or

annihilation (the extermination of a specific group of people) may occur.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Dominant Group Responses to Minorities (cont’d)

Another negative dominant group response toward the minority group is exploitation (the selfish utilization of the labor of others for profit at their expense).

There are three conflict viewpoints about the exploitation of minorities: power theory, internal colonialism theory, split-labor market theory. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon

2003

Exploitation of Minorities: 3 Conflict Viewpoints

Power Theory - The relative power of the indigenous and migrant groups determines the outcome of their interaction or the nature of intergroup relations.

Internal Colonialism Theory - Black experiences viewed in terms of economic exploitation and rigid stratification. America’s treatment of Blacks resembles past European subjugation and exploitation of non-Western peoples. Black ghettos are more nearly permanent than immigrant ghettos and are controlled economically, politically, and administratively from the outside. Continual exploitation of Blacks produces conflict and confrontation (this theory may also apply to Mexican Americans and Native Americans). Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Conflict Viewpoints (coninued)

Split-Labor Market Theory - Ethnic antagonism results from a combination of economic exploitation by employers and economic competition between two or more groups of laborers that produces a wage differential for labor.

Much ethnic antagonism is based not on ethnicity and race but on the conflict between higher-paid and lower-paid labor. If the higher-paid group is strong enough, it may be able to block the cheaper competition through an exclusionary movement or a caste system. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003

Summary Minority group responses to prejudice and

discrimination include avoidance, deviance, defiance, acceptance, and negative self-image.

Minority groups that experience sustained inequality face four possible outcomes: negative self-image, a vicious circle of continued discrimination, marginality. and status as middleman minorities.

Dominant group actions toward the minority group may take various forms, including favorable, indifferent, or negative response.

Conflict viewpoints analyze exploitation of minorities. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2003