by Rizqi Arifuddin
In
a very diverse and multicultural society, there exists the so called majority and minority society. In one session of
my short course in US (SUSI for Student Leaders on Religious Pluralism), I studied
this issue more profoundly. ‘A miniature of the
world’, is how one of my friends called the United
States of America. In this country, there are various people coming from
different nations and cultures speaking different languages. Therefore, in the US, as in many other plural places, the existence of
majority group is observable.
Nowadays,
the majority of US citizen is indisputably
White people. They make up a large number of US
citizens. Other groups of people make up
minority group. They consist of African American, Latin American, Asian
American and others. Each possesses and preserves each own distinct culture.
Thus, the concept of salad bowl is now more preferable than melting pot. In salad bowl, each member of the society
still preserves its original ‘form’. But in melting pot, they all
blend, they all melt. The current phenomena in US society are not represented
by the latter.
In
understanding the concept of majority and minority, Dr. Racelle Weiman and
Angela Ilic, the mentors - who led the session, - asked the participants to engage in an interactive
teaching. The participants consisting of twenty Indonesian students shared the
same commonalities: black hair and black eye color. The mentors then drew a circle on the floor and
instructed the participants to step in after some instructions. “Step in the
circle for people whose hair is black” said Dr. Racelle. Twenty people stepped
in the circle, leaving the blonde Dr. Racelle and the somewhat red-haired
Angela Ilic. Which group is the majority now? When they asked
the class to step inside a circle for those whose religion is non Moslem, six
people (the two mentors and four participants) stepped in. Do you remember that
the four students were once in the majority group? What does it suggest?
The
concept of majority and minority is very much determined by two factors: space
and time. Imagine the twenty students from Indonesia. They were the majority
within the class room for having black hair (special factor). But once they got out, even if only one step, outside of the classroom, they
would become the minority as most people in the campus area were blonde.
Moslems were majority inside the classroom. Once the students got out of it,
they became minority (special factor). Say, African American. Once they come to
Africa they will not be minority (measured by skin color). All of these examples show that space play a crucial role in making up a majority
group. It means that status as a majority is not an absolute status. Everyone
may become or may not become majority member in a given space. Time also plays
the same factor. It actually is an interlocking system with space in making up
majority/minority status. It works in the same way as space does. For instance
there is an interesting finding about American society. If the survey and
calculation is correct, in the near future, White people will loose its status
as majority people in US as the number of minority keeps on growing [1].
What
happen to the majority group with the existence of a growing minority? The
initial response of majority to minority is usually not the good ones. In most
cases, majority is usually attributed with more power, more control and more
privilege. People from
majority group usually enjoy all the privileges that
minority group cannot afford. One example is the right
to vote in the US. Only in 1965 could all US
citizens regardless their race and gender vote freely. The majority will react
with mostly fear and anxiety to the growing number of minority. They fear that
the minority will get all the privileges. They are anxious that the minority
will take over and even overthrow them from their position in society. Thus, to
prevent this from happening prejudice and stereotype are in force. Whan does prejudice mean? Here are some definitions of
prejudice from http://dictionary.reference.com :
n
|
|
1.
|
an opinion formed beforehand, esp an unfavourable one based
on inadequate facts
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2.
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the act or condition of holding such opinions
|
3.
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intolerance of or dislike for people of a specific race, religion,etc
|
4.
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disadvantage or injury resulting from prejudice
|
5.
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to the prejudice of to the detriment of
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6.
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law without prejudice without dismissing or detracting from anexisting right or claim
|
The
six definitions of prejudice refers to acts of forming negative pre-opinion to
specific group of people based on race, religion, etc which has no adequate
facts. Prejudice then may not be true since it has less fact. Which group of
people is mostly prejudiced? It surely is the minority one. The majority will have their prejudice on
the minority and once these prejudices are perpetuated and believed as something true by many people, they become stereotypes
and it will be very
hard to combat them.
Stereotypes
are negative opinions to a certain group of people which are believed as true.
The easiest example is the
stereotype that women are
weak. Are all women weak? Surely not. There are plenty of strong women out there. Stereotypes are also characterized
by generalization and they are perpetuated by media. More and more
people believe in stereotypes of certain group of people because they are
frequently embedded in popular
media. Media work in a specific unconscious ways to influence people. Thus, the
minority group must work hard to combat stereotypes imposed on them, and it is
not an easy fight. Do you believe in certain stereotypes of groups of
people?
So
how can we combat the stereotypes or prejudice? Being a majority, one will
always feel safe, secure and comfortable. S/he lives in a comfort zone that
leads to ignorance to the others, --
the minority ones. However, if one really wants to combat stereotypes and
prejudice, s/he is supposed to leave her/his comfort zone. S/he needs to at
least be open minded, let the ignorance evaporate, and learn about others (qq).
References:
[1]
The End of White America? http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/01/the-end-of-white-america/7208/;
White people will not be majority by 2042 http://gulfnews.com/news/world/usa/white-people-will-not-be-a-majority-in-us-by-2042-1.124913
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