minority

Examples of minority in the following topics:

• Minority Groups

  • The term "minority" is applied to various groups who hold few or no positions of power in a given society.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson discusses minority health research at the National Institute of Health.

• Minorities

  • Racism is usually directed against a minority population, but may also be directed against a majority population.
  • 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 (i.e. they may have difficulty finding work if they do not speak the predominant language for their geographic area).
  • The assimilation of minority groups into majority groups can be seen as a form of racism.
  • In this process, the minority group sheds its distinctive traits and is absorbed into the dominant group.
  • Additional examples of minorities discriminating against majorities include two instances of colonial rule:

• Age and Race

  • There is evidence that black senior citizens are more likely to be abused - both physically and psychologically and suffer greater financial exploitation than do white senior citizens.Further, recent demographic profiles suggest that social aging varies across racial groups, and demonstrates that minority elders (especially Hispanic and African American identified) typically enter later life with less education, less financial resources, and less access to health care than their white counterparts.Finally, researchers have noted that minority groups' greater likelihood of facing patterns of structural disadvantage throughout the life course, such as racial discrimination, poverty, and fewer social, political, and economic resources on average, create significant racial variations in the stages or age-related trajectories of racial minorities and majorities that may be observed at all points of the life span, and contribute to disparities in health, income, self-perceived age, mortality, and morbidity.

• Health Disparities

  • Minorities also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality than whites, which suggests the lack of preventative services and education in predominantly racial minority neighborhoods and schools may play an important role.
  • 2) From the barriers certain minority groups encounter when trying to enter into the health care delivery system.
  • 3) From the quality of health care different minority groups receive.
  • Minority groups in the United States lack insurance coverage at higher rates than members of dominant groups.
  • Language differences restrict access to medical care for minorities in the United States who are not English-proficient.

• Women as a Minority

  • Women are considered a minority group, because they do not share the same power, privileges, rights, and opportunities as men.
  • Women are not a statistical minority, as in most societies -- they are roughly equal in number to men -- but they do qualify as a minority group because they tend to have less power and fewer privileges than men.
  • For instance, U.S. and English law, until the twentieth century, subscribed to the system of coverture, where "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage. " Not until 1875 were women in the United States legally defined as persons (Minor v Happersett, 88 U.S. 162).
  • In economics, the term "glass ceiling" refers to institutional barriers that prevent minorities and women from advancing beyond a certain point in the corporate world, despite their qualifications and successes.

• Juvenile Crime

  • Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behaviors by minors.
  • Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors.
  • Delinquency: crimes committed by minors that are dealt with by the juvenile courts and justice system;
  • Status offenses: offenses which are only classified as such because one is a minor, such as truancy, also dealt with by the juvenile courts.
  • The majority of adolescents who live in poverty are racial minorities.

• Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.

  • Nevertheless, despite a difficult history, Asian Americans have earned the positive stereotype of the model minority.
  • The model minority stereotype is applied to a minority group that is seen as reaching significant educational, professional, and socioeconomic levels without challenging the existing establishment.
  • By contrast, Cuban Americans are often seen as a model minority group within the larger Hispanic group.
  • As with Asian Americans, however, being a model minority can mask the issue of powerlessness that these minority groups face in U.S. society.
  • Describe the history and current situation of at least three minorities in the U.S.

• Aging and Race

  • Further, medical concerns present differently for white seniors and minority seniors.
  • However, these outcome disparities are not usually the result of biological determinants of health, which means that minority populations are not biologically less healthy than white populations.

• Discrimination Against Individuals

  • It may manifest on every level of social life, from minor disregard or intense hostility in interpersonal interactions to much larger instantiations in public institutions (also called structural or institutional discrimination), such as the segregatory practices prominent in the Jim Crow era of the Unites States (1870s-1960s).
  • Reverse discrimination is a term referring to discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, including the city or state, or in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group.
  • This discrimination may seek to redress social inequalities where minority groups have been denied access to the same privileges of the majority group.
  • In such cases it is intended to remove discrimination that minority groups may already face.

• Democracy

  • Such laws embodied majority opinion, at least at the time the law was made, but were oppressive to a minority of citizens who opposed the law.
  • Although majority rule is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority to be abused by the tyranny of the majority, in which a majority institutes policies abusive to a minority (for example, a racial majority may deny a racial minority access to education, housing, jobs, or other resources).