Middlemen minorities can trade freely because they bypass status hierarchies

Evidence

The ghetto was from the outset a site of ambiguity: a means of housing the Jews while holding them at arm’s length. Christian societies had need of the Jews, not least because they were not bound by the prohibitions against usury. Jewish loans assisted the poor, helped finance trade, and provided governments with an additional source of funds through taxation. The ghetto provided a way in which Christians could enjoy the commercial benefits that the Jews provided without having to live alongside them. It was a way of incorporating those who would nevertheless continue to be treated as outsiders. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2372 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Allport recognized that prejudice functioned to maintain the advantaged status of majority groups while rationalizing the exploitation of minority groups. However, he did not consider other, arguably more prevalent mechanisms of control, such as those involving protection and benevolence (e.g., paternalism; Jackman). In this way, he missed the broader dynamics of prejudice that can contribute to systemic inequities by coopting minority-group members. A focus on the relations between groups reveals evidence of seemingly “cooperative” behaviors of victimization by the targets of prejudice and of subtle “backlash” to even positive behaviors, if they deviate from the status quo (see Jackman, Rudman, and Eagly & Diekman). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 140 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Palestinians are lasting middlemen minorities since return is impossible; Middleman minorities in similar niches get scapegoated across centuries; Demanding authenticity from the status-disadvantaged protects existing status hierarchies — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 287 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Ghettos let dominant societies extract a minority’s economic services while keeping them socially excluded #complicates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2372
• Protection and benevolence can control minority groups more than hostility #complicates (0.78)
• Benevolent paternalism can coopt minority-group members into their own subordination #complicates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 140
• Demanding authenticity from the status-disadvantaged protects existing status hierarchies #complicates (0.73) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 287
• Prejudice propagates when privileged groups stand to gain from exploiting minorities #complicates (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1480