Non-dominant Minority Research Articles

Criminal Behaviors Among Minorities: A Social Resistance Perspective

The social resistance framework offers an explanation for high-risk and criminal behaviors among non-dominant minority groups. The study explores the generalizability of the framework to minority groups which are marginalized for different reasons, such as immigration, and deep historical national conflicts, and across several criminal behaviors, by surveying a representative sample of more than 1,000 participants from Israel's majority population and four minority groups—Muslims, Jews of Ethiopian origin, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and ultra-Orthodox Jews. Negative binomial regressions show that social resistance is positively associated with criminal behaviors, controlling for exposure, demographic characteristics, and previous explanations. Additionally, both levels of social resistance and its association with criminal behaviors vary between the different non-dominant minority groups. The study supports the premises of the framework, showing that social resistance plays a role in criminal behaviors among minority groups which are marginalized for different historical reasons.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM FOR THE PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' RIGHTS

The article analyzes the institutional mechanism for protecting the rights of indigenous peoples at the international universal and regional levels, in particular within the United Nations, the African Union, the Organization of American States etc. It was established that in order to comprehensively protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples, a number of bodies and specially authorized officials function within the UN structure (the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Inter-Agency Support Group, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples). It is emphasized that the activities of such bodies and special procedures are aimed at raising awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples, promoting integration and coordination of activities in this area, promoting the application of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, preparing and publishing studies on the situation of indigenous peoples' rights, assisting Member States and/or indigenous peoples in developing legislation and policies related to the rights of indigenous peoples, identifying best practices and sharing them, etc. It was determined that within the American and African regions, an organizational and legal framework in this area has also been created, including: the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and Minorities in Africa and the Office of the Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is emphasized that the mandate of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and Minorities in Africa includes minority rights, given that the protection of the rights of non-dominant minorities is key to ensuring the exercise of rights on an equal footing as well as socio-economic development, national cohesion, peaceful coexistence and conflict prevention on the continent.

Setting Aside the “Others”: Exclusion amid Inclusion of Non-dominant Minorities in Peace Agreements

This article analyzes the exclusion-amid-inclusion of “Others” within territorial power-sharing arrangements. While territorial power-sharing is often used to accommodate national minorities, it risks excluding non-dominant minorities at sub-state levels of governance. The article charts how negotiated settlements have addressed this dilemma by formally acknowledging the plurality of non-dominant minorities within territorial power-sharing arrangements, including de facto minorities and other “non-aligned” or less politically relevant minorities. Using the PA-X Peace Agreements Database, this article conducts a qualitative content analysis of 1518 peace agreements from 1990-2016, to shed light on the EAI dilemma within negotiated settlements in divided societies.

A Social Resistance Perspective For Delinquent Behaviour Among Non-Dominant Minority Groups

Non-dominant minorities, compared with majority groups, often have greater engagement in risky and delinquent behaviours. This study develops an innovative theoretical model for understanding risky/delinquent behaviour among non-dominant groups based on the social resistance framework, which suggests that power relations within society bring non-dominant minorities to actively engage in various forms of everyday resistance that can include delinquent behaviours. We tested this model on traffic violations, surveying 1,060 non-dominant and majority drivers in Israel. Structural equation models suggest that different mechanisms underlie delinquent behaviours in the two groups: social resistance plays a direct role in traffic violations among non-dominants, while, for the majority, procedural justice and non-commitment to the law have a stronger impact. Implications for understanding delinquent and risky behaviour and as an extension of the well-known procedural justice model are discussed.

Social Resistance Framework for Understanding High-Risk Behavior Among Nondominant Minorities: Preliminary Evidence

The recently developed social resistance framework addresses a widespread pattern in which members of some nondominant minorities tend to engage in various risky and unhealthy behaviors more than the majority group. This pilot study tested the core hypotheses derived from this innovative framework. We conducted in 2011 a nationally representative Web-based survey of 200 members of a nondominant minority group (African Americans) and 200 members of a majority group (Whites). The preliminary findings supported the main premises of the framework and suggested that nondominant minorities who felt discriminated and alienated from society tended also to have higher levels of social resistance. Those with higher levels of social resistance also engaged more in risky and unhealthy behaviors-smoking, drinking, and nonuse of seat belts-than did those with lower levels of social resistance. These associations were not found in the majority group. These preliminary results supported the framework and suggested that social resistance might play a meaningful role in risky and unhealthy behaviors of nondominant minorities, and should be taken into account when trying to reduce health disparities.

Evaluation of the UNREST questionnaire for testing the social resistance framework

BackgroundThe recently developed social resistance framework addresses a widespread pattern whereby non-dominant minority groups, such as ethnic/racial minorities and people of low socioeconomic status, often engage in unhealthy and risky...

Understanding high-risk behavior among non-dominant minorities: A social resistance framework

Across different societies, non-dominant minority groups, compared to the dominant group, often exhibit higher rates of involvement in high-risk behaviors, such as smoking, drug and alcohol use, sexual risk behaviors, overeating, and unsafe driving habits. In turn, these behaviors have a well-documented impact on chronic disease, morbidity, and mortality. Previous studies have emphasized macro-structural or micro-agentic explanations for this phenomenon. Such explanations suffer from mirror-image shortcomings, such as, by emphasizing structural barriers, macro-level explanations leave out individual agency (“the over-socialized conception of the individual”), while micro-level theories give short shrift to structural constraints that prevent individuals from engaging in health-promoting behaviors (“the under-socialized conception of the individual”). Moreover, most current theories regard individuals as passive players who are influenced by the social environment or by psychological problems, or who make “bad” choices. The current paper develops an integrated theoretical framework that incorporates structural inequalities while leaving intact the role of individual agency. According to the social resistance framework, power relations in society encourage members of non-dominant minority groups to actively engage in everyday resistance practices that include various unhealthy behaviors. The paper develops propositions from which testable hypotheses can be generated, and discusses the implications and contributions of the social resistance framework.

African Renaissance and language policies in comparative perspective

The predicament of the continued usage of colonial languages for economic reasons is contrasted with the demand for recognition and state support for indigenous and non-dominant minority languages. However, new African elites define competitiveness in the global arena as a crucial goal. To this end, despite talk of African Renaissance, African languages are relegated to the private realm, where a vibrant oral tradition exists. In turn, dominant Western languages which hold out the promise of access to wider opportunities are valued. Fluency in English and French is associated with education, status and urbanity, which both distinguishes as well as distances the elite from their constituencies. New approaches of multicultural recognition of all linguistic traditions in a multi-ethnic state discussed at a Goree Island Conference in 1998 are explored comparatively.

Critical Theory of Education and Ethnicity: The Case Study of the Toronto Jewish Community

In contrast to the voluminous (and separate) literature on ethnicity and on education there are few attempts to deal at the theoretical level with education and ethnicity in combination. The article reviews some of the main theories regarding education (consensus, conflict, and critical sociology in education) and ethnicity (consensus, conflict, and pluralism) and evaluates them with regard to a specific case study: the Toronto Jewish community. The article outlines an alternative theoretical framework which is particularly appropriate to nondominant minority communities. The article points to the need to break down such general concepts as cultural resistance and reproduction into smaller “units,” thus creating new classifications, concepts, terms, and typologies. This article advocates the use of “relevant” culture, “relevant” resistance, etc. and uses these concepts in a more pluralistic version of the critical sociology in education.