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15 - Influence and its aftermath: Motives for agreement among minorities and majorities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Radmila Prislin  and
P. Niels Christensen
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

For most minorities, nomen est omen. Derived from the Latin term minor (lesser), minority denotes inferiority. Defined in terms of inferior size, inferior importance, or both, almost all minorities are disadvantaged. They are on the receiving side of many social ills as is evident in their disproportionably higher unemployment rates (Evers & van der Flier, 1998) and incarceration rates (Barrett & William, 2005), but lower earnings (U. S. Census Bureau, 2004) and access to health care (National Center for Health Statistics, 2004). These tangible costs of being in a minority are compounded by psychological tolls, including feelings of marginalization (Brewer & Pickett, 1999; Frable, Blackstone, & Scherbaum, 1990) and social stigmatization (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998; Moscovici, 1994). Minorities often need active coping strategies to develop a positive social identity, and a sense of correctness, which are the default for members of the majority (for review, see Prislin & Christensen, 2005a). The heavy burdens of minorities led Moscovici (1976) to conclude that although there is nothing wrong with being a minority, “it is tragic to remain one” (p. 74). The looming “tragedy” of a permanent minority position motivates minorities to seek change. This motivation is at the heart of the social influence process.

As obvious as minorities' motivation for change may be, their ability to effect change was not recognized until Moscovici's (1976) seminal reconceptualization of social influence as bidirectional and rooted in social conflict.

Type
Chapter
Information
Coping with Minority Status
Responses to Exclusion and Inclusion
 , pp. 333 - 354
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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