Minorities are defined only within hierarchical structures of power

Evidence

“Minority rights” are not derivable from general theories of citizenship: status is connected to membership in a specific historical group, not in the abstract class of citizens. In that sense minorities are no different from majorities, also a historically constituted group. The fact that they are usually smaller in number is an accidental feature. Minorities may be numerically much larger than the body of equal citizens from whom they are excluded. In the British empire vast numbers of colonial subjects were ruled by a democratic state of citizens far smaller in number through a variety of constitutional devices—which rendered them legally and ideologically minorities. Because minorities are defined as minorities only in hierarchical structures of power. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 853 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Minority status depends on hierarchy, not on numerical size. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 853; Minority status is relative to national context; Liberal inclusion requires minority groups to approximate dominant cultural sameness — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race…, 1244 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Minority status depends on hierarchy, not on numerical size. #corroborates (0.95) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 853
• Minority identity is claimed as a matter of visceral belonging, not abstract legal category #complicates (0.76)