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Preview: What might be some differences between a majority group and a minority group?

Preview 1.1.2 Answers

A person’s identities can be classified into categories, such as ethnicity and indigeneity, religion, legal citizenship status, ability, sexual orientation and gender identity and gender expression. This creates groups of persons with a shared identity for each category. For example, different groups can be formed based on ethnic identity.

Majority and minority refer to different population sizes of identity-based groups in specific places and at particular times in history. A majority is an identity-based group that has more members than all other identity-based groups in the whole population under that category of identity. A minority is an identity-based group that has fewer members than the majority group. There may be many different minority groups in a population relative to a majority group under that category of identity. For example, there may be one ethnic majority group and many different ethnic minority groups.

There is no one universal definition of who classifies as minority groups, but they are typically identified by certain common characteristics, according to the United Nations (UN). In general, a minority group:

1. has fewer members than the majority in a community or country;
2. has a non-dominant status in that community or country, and therefore is at risk of being vulnerable or marginalised;
3. possesses distinct and shared characteristics that are different from those of the rest of the population; and
4. feels a sense of solidarity within their group to preserve and promote their collective ways of life.

It is possible for a group to be a majority at a community level and a minority at a country level. The opposite is also true -- a group can be a minority at the community level and a majority at a country level. International human rights law often considers the country level rather than the community level.

Over time a majority can become a minority and a minority can become a majority. It is also possible for an individual to belong to a majority group in a certain place and then move to a different place where they have minority status. Therefore it is important to consider place and time when analysing majority and minority status.