It is no secret that at IST we live in a bubble against society. But, what do I mean by the bubble? Well, the bubble is really the limit of your understanding. It might seem intimidating but all you have to do to pop it, is to listen, read and educate yourself on your surroundings. I hope to walk you through some of the key people in our world who face difficulties; people we don't often see because, we at IST are surrounded by people of similar privilege.
The Majority vs the Minority
I will be talking about people called the "minorities", but you should probably know who the "majority" is first. In "The Descent of Man" by Grayson Perry, he explores masculinity and gender equality through the "Default Man". "Default Man" is best described as the white, heterosexual, middle-class man who sits a position of power. In most societies this what we find as the prominent male employment population as well as white males in government, and as CEOs. This person is the "normal" he faces no difficulty surrounding his gender, his sexuality, his income, his race or religion - he is the majority.
So, a "minority" is therefore, everyone else? Well sort of... A minority as defined by wikipedia.org is :
"a minority group refers to a category of people who experience relative disadvantage as compared to members of a dominant social group"
The most important thing here is, "relative disadvantage" for example, in France there are more Christian people than there are non-religious people. But non-religious people are not a minority in France because they aren't discriminated against. However, there are greater disadvantages for those who identity as Muslims because society discriminates against them.
meet The Minorities
Some of the largest groups of minorities are:
Involuntary Minorities - Those who originate in an area, but due to colonization are brought into a new society: think the Native-Americans or Australian Aboriginals.
Voluntary Minorities - These are people who migrate into a new society where people discriminate against them: like Mexicans moving into the United States.
Racial Minorities - Those who are discriminated often because of physical differences e.g. skin color.
Ethnic Minorities - Discriminated because of their hermitage: culture, history, language, country of origin.
Gender and Sexual Minorities - Members of the LGBTQ+ community, who are discriminated against for their sexual preference (e.g. gay, lesbian, bisexual) and those who are discriminated for the gender they identify as such as intersex or transgender.
Financial Minorities - People in polar "income brackets".
People with Disabilities - People who are discriminated against because of their physical or neurological differences.
Religious Minorities - People who are discriminated for their faith values such as being Muslim or Jewish.
Where are women? Its a good question, whilst women are discriminated against, they are not a minority group since they represent arguably 50% of our population. So, it doesn't fit the textbook definition, but I would still bracket women under the misrepresented people of our world.
If you want to learn more I would thoroughly recommend Thinking Allowed by Laurie Taylor - a BBC podcast.
THE SOLUTION
By creating labels for minorities we aren't really helping the problem, we are created more division than necessary, but for a lot of people sticking to your community is helpful is tackling the issue together - so it's complicated as per usual.
Realistically the issue of discrimination is one that is going to take longer than our lifetime solve. If you are a minority it is important to stand your ground, surround yourself with those who care and prove society wrong. If we all unite strongly as a loving society we will overpower those who discriminate. And already we're making fantastic progress! Whilst things could be better - they're actually the best they've ever been.
But how does this come back to IST and our community? Well as I mentioned IST can be a bubble and hopefully now I've given you a small insight into who we label as a minorities. You often don't see minorities at IST, most of our population is white and straight plus, you only need to look at how many smartphones we all have to argue we're financially privileged. All I ask of you, as one human to another, is to think, to stand by your morals and look out for each other. As cringe-worthy as it is, only by working together can we really make change - so everyone's counting on you!
References
The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry
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