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13 - Prominority policies and cultural change: A dilemma for minorities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Angelica Mucchi-Faina
Edited by
Fabrizio Butera  and
John M. Levine
Fabrizio Butera
Affiliation:
Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
John M. Levine
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Summary

According to the minority influence theory (Moscovici 1976, 1980), determined and persistent minorities can start social change. To reach this goal, minorities have to obtain visibility and be capable of conflict with the majority, consistently affirming their rights, opinions, and diversity. Differentiation and opposition allow the minority to achieve both external visibility and internal cohesion. At this stage, minorities need to display courage and determination, denouncing status disadvantage that was previously hidden or considered normal. By means of a consistent behavioral style, minorities obtain respect and acknowledgment, produce the defreezing of previous beliefs and social representations, and start a new way of thinking, which, in turn, leads to cultural and social change. Evidence supporting this theory has been obtained not only in the laboratory (for a review, Moscovici, Mucchi-Faina, & Maass, 1994) but also through the observation of successful social movements (e.g., Mucchi-Faina, 1987). In the 1960s and 1970s, for example, many social and ethnic minorities consistently challenged their traditional marginal role and protested against their condition of social segregation. Minorities, in those years, not only demanded equal treatment and opportunities, but also affirmed the importance of diversity. These conflicts led to a new and widespread consideration of the needs of underprivileged groups and categories and induced the authorities to formulate social policies, norms, and recommendations aimed at reducing the unfair treatment of minorities. In addition, they activated a cultural change and a process of social transformation.

Type
Chapter
Information
Coping with Minority Status
Responses to Exclusion and Inclusion
 , pp. 293 - 310
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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