Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- PART I COPING WITH EXCLUSION: BEING EXCLUDED FOR WHO YOU ARE
- PART 2 COPING WITH EXCLUSION: BEING EXCLUDED FOR WHAT YOU THINK AND DO
- PART 3 COPING WITH INCLUSION
- 12 Multiple identities and the paradox of social inclusion
- 13 Prominority policies and cultural change: A dilemma for minorities
- 14 Influence without credit: How successful minorities respond to social cryptomnesia
- 15 Influence and its aftermath: Motives for agreement among minorities and majorities
- Index
- References
13 - Prominority policies and cultural change: A dilemma for minorities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- PART I COPING WITH EXCLUSION: BEING EXCLUDED FOR WHO YOU ARE
- PART 2 COPING WITH EXCLUSION: BEING EXCLUDED FOR WHAT YOU THINK AND DO
- PART 3 COPING WITH INCLUSION
- 12 Multiple identities and the paradox of social inclusion
- 13 Prominority policies and cultural change: A dilemma for minorities
- 14 Influence without credit: How successful minorities respond to social cryptomnesia
- 15 Influence and its aftermath: Motives for agreement among minorities and majorities
- Index
- References
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 StatusResponses to Exclusion and Inclusion, pp. 293 - 310Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
References
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