Page 168 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 8: Race and Ethnicity

8.4 Minority and Majority Relations Notes

Probably the most outstanding weakness of the numerous studies appearing yearly on the various
problems of race and minority relations in the United States has been the insistence that in the
final evaluation of the available evidence, a solution must be fount! in the ideological area rather
than within the framework of the empiric facts. There has been a never-ending flood of literature
engulfing us with a rehash and repetition of the old formulas — traditional answers and cliches,
the seemingly self-confident declarations of the “practical” man — all insisting that the answers to
the difficulties lie in “ifs”— “if all men were behaving like Christians,” “if we would just realize
that this or that minority would not be so obnoxious if given half a chance,” and so on, ad nauseam.
This dominant school is headed by Gunnar Myrdal, whose interpretation of Negro-while relations
in the United States is but a good illustration of believing that the acceptance of the creed will
solve the facts; Myrdal makes the violation of the American Creed in our treatment of the Negro
a basic point; for him “the status accorded the Negro in America represents nothing more and
nothing less than century-long lag of public morals.” Yet, in spite of all the previous and more
recent proponents of Myrdal’s thesis, this “lag of public morals” has continued to operate most
efficiently and persistently; evidently the Myrdal tribe has an attractive ideology for its believers,
but its appeal has influenced little, if at all, the non-organized and organised promoters of race
hatred.
The same situation exists in regard to the other minorities in America. How, otherwise, can we
explain the support given to the survival of such numerous organizations as the National Conference
of Christians and Jews, Common Council for American Unity, the Department of Race Relations
of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the Congress of Racial Equality, the
American Council on Race Relations, etc. ?
Whereas earlier research of minority relations assumed an inevitability in the disappearance of
minority groups, recent studies suggest that ethnic minorities are surviving and that new minorities
are emerging. Documentation is accumulating indicating that ethnic minorities are retaining their
identity in contrast to those that have become assimilated into the larger cultural and social
systems. A considerable proportion of the literature analyzes the nature and problems of inter-
group relations between a minority and the larger society when the minority desires acceptance;
but there is limited resource material available which contributes to an understanding of the
forces that operate in the relationships between groups that want to retain their identity and the
majority society.
The purpose of this unit is to review briefly the types of intergroup relations that can obtain in a
society, to illustrate one kind of minority-majority relationship which has not received much
attention, and to isolate one of the most important variable which determines the success of
retaining separateness. This article will suggest also how this variable (economic interdependence)
may he useful in analyzing other minorities which may be concerned either with gaining acceptance
into the larger society, or remaining aloof.
Hypotheses
We investigate the implications of minority-majority asymmetry across eleven national contexts
concerning (a) the relationship between ethnic subgroup and national superordinate levels of
identification, and (b) negative intergroup attitudes. Starting from the assumption that ethnic
majorities are likely to be in a higher status position than minorities, we expect that they are more
likely to feel entitled to the nation and to consider that their group is representative of the
superordinate category. Five predictions are derived from the discussion about minority – majority
asymmetry.
First, majorities should identify more strongly with the nation than minorities. In addition, we
also explore whether minorities or majorities have higher levels of ethnic subgroup identification.

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