Lesbians and gays, Appalachians, women, the disabled, fat people, even white supremacists are claiming to be “minorities,” and demanding to be treated just like other minorities, especially African Americans. These struggles for the right to be a minority are struggles for much more than a label.
References
1.
BerbrierMitch. “Making Minorities: Cultural Space, Stigma Transformation Frames, and the Categorical Status Claims of Deaf, Gay, and White Supremacist Activists in Late Twentieth Century America.”Sociological Forum17(4) (2002): 553–591. In this study, I show how minority claims are a part of social movement strategies and tie in to the cultural status of African Americans.
2.
GleasonPhilip. “Minorities (Almost) All: The Minority Concept in American Social Thought.”American Quarterly43 (1991): 392–424. A historian documents and interprets the intellectual and academic history of the minority concept.
3.
LewisEarl. “Constructing African Americans as Minorities.” In The Construction of Minorities, ed. BurguiereAndreGrewRaymond. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2000. Lewis offers an account of how African Americans came to be seen as the prototypical minority group.
4.
MartinDaniel D.“From Appearance Tales to Oppression Tales: Frame Alignment and Organizational Identity.”Journal of Contemporary Ethnography31, 2 (2002): 158–206. Martin describes stigma management in three organizations—Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous and the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.
5.
NibertDavid. “Minority Group as a Sociological Euphemism: A Note on the Concept of ‘Privileged/Oppressed Groups.’”Race, Gender & Class3 (1996): 129–36. This short article critiques the choice of the term “minority” by sociologists.
6.
SagarinEdward, ed. The Other Minorities: Nonethnic Collectivities Conceptualized as Minority Groups.Waltham, MA: Ginn and Company, 1971. This series of articles by activists and social scientists explores possible variations among minority groups, many relying on Louis Wirth's definition. Helen Hacker's article on women is reprinted here.
7.
SkrentnyJohn D.The Minority Rights Revolution. Cambridge, CT, Harvard University Press, 2002. Skrentny documents how “official minorities” came to be recognized from 1965 to 1975, showing the importance of extending laws and practices initially intended for African Americans to other groups.
8.
WirthLouis. “The Problem of Minority Groups.” In The Science of Man in the World Crisis, ed. LintonRalph. New York: Columbia University Press, 1945. Wirth defines, explains, and endorses the classic sociological concept of minorities.
