Human life in pre-industrial societies was different from
what it is today. The nature of the pre-industrial society in the past was such
that it was simple, small and homogeneous. People in such societies used to
share the same values, speak the same language, worship the same goals; and had
very similar characteristics.
Societies in the modern world are large and heterogeneous. As
a result of colonization, missionary work, migration, and the movement of
refugees due to famine, poverty persecution, etc., these societies frequently
contains minorities.
Minority group is a term referring to a category of
people differentiated from the social majority, i.e., those who hold the
majority of positions of social power in a society, and may be defined by law.
The term minority Implies discrimination, and in its
sociological use, the term subordinate/Minor
can be used
interchangeably with the term minority, while the term dominant is often substituted for the group that’s in the majority.
These definitions correlate to the concept that the dominant group is that
which holds the most power in a given society, while subordinate groups are
those who lack power compared to the dominant group.
- Which is numerically smaller than the rest of population of the state or a part of the state,
- Which is not in a dominant position,
- Which has culture, language, religion, race etc. distinct from that of the majority of the population,
- Whose members have a will to preserve their specificity,
- Whose members are citizens of the state where they have the status of a minority, and
- Which have a long-term presence on the territory where it has lived.
According to Sociologist
Louis Wirth, a minority group 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 discrimination.
According to The New Encyclopedia Britanica (Vol: 27, page:
356) –
“The most common general description of a minority group
used, is of – an aggregate of people who are distinct in religion, language or
nationality from other members of the society in which they live and who think
of themselves, and are thought of by others, as being separate and distinct.”
According to N.J. Smelser (Wirth, 1945, page: 347) –
“A minority group may be defined 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 discrimination.”