Minorities

A minority group refers to a category of people differentiated from the social majority, those who hold the majority of positions of social power in a society, and it may be defined by law. Rather than a relational "social group", as the term would indicate, "minority group" refers to the above-described. The differentiation can be based on one or more observable human characteristics, including: ethnicity, race, religion, caste, gender, wealth, health or sexual orientation. Usage of the term is applied to various situations and civilizations within history despite its popular misassociation with a numerical, statistical minority (Barzilai, 2010). In the social sciences, the term "minority" is used to refer to categories of persons who hold fewer positions of social power.

The term "minority group" often occurs alongside a discourse of civil rights and collective rights which gained prominence in the 20th century. Members of minority groups are prone to different treatment in the countries and societies in which they live. The discrimination may be directly based on an individual's perceived membership of a minority group, without consideration of that individual's personal achievement. It may also occur indirectly by social structures that are not equally accessible to all. Activists campaigning on a range of issues may use the language of minority rights, including student rights, consumer rights, and animal rights.

There is a controversy with the use of the word minority. Cultural diversity definitions can be as controversial as diversity projects and initiatives. The word minority is an example; it has an academic and a colloquial usage. Academics refer to power differences among groups rather than differences in population size among groups.

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