Killian - What or Who is a ‘Minority’?
Killian, L.M. (1996) What or Who is a “Minority”? Michigan Sociological Review, 10: 18-31.
The concept"minority"developed in the languageof political science with the rise of nationalism in Europe during the Nineteenth century. It referred to "national minorities"in heterogeneous nation-states.In 1932 American sociologist Donald Young adopted the term to encompass groups in the United States distinguished by either biological features or national traits or both. Later"ethnic minorities" came to be used often in popular discourseas well as in social science to refer to relatively powerless, self-conscious groups whose members were subject to discrimination.
By the1960s, women were included as the "minority that is a majority." The 1971 volume, The Other Minorities, suggested inclusion of collectivities distinguished by deviance, disability, and victimization.Today the term is increasingly used in popular language to refer to an individual. The earlier political connotations emphasizing power relations are being obscured as individuals claiming to have been victimized are treated as "minorities".
Lewis M. Killian “What or Who is a ‘Minority’?”