“The world’s best minority”: Parsis and Hindutva’s ethnic nationalism in India

There is an assumption that nationalist movements which are constituted by an ethnic majority are hostile towards all minorities, so how does one account for such a movement’s affection for one minority and hostility for another? In this paper I explore this question using the case study of a Hindu nationalist movement in India called Hindutva which simultaneously expresses hostility towards Muslims and affection for another minority known as the Parsis. I argue in societies that imagine themselves as plural there is a type of nationalist thought premised upon the existence of both exemplary and threatening minorities. An exemplary minority is imagined as loyal and acculturating, illustrating both how a minority should relate to the majority and why other minorities are threatening. While an historical argument enables the distinction between the majority and minorities, a plural hierarchy of minorities is enabled by mythical stories of coexistence and conflict.     

'Demographic engineering': the state-directed movement of ethnic groups as a technique of conflict regulation

In this article I examine the state-directed movement of ethnic groups. Such movements include the settlement of majority groups in peripheral regions inhabited by minorities, the relocation of minority groups within the state, and the expulsion of minorities from the state. An important theme of the article is that, while such policies have been implemented for centuries, modern state-directed movements are closely linked to the growth of nationalism. The study seeks to answer three important questions: (1) Why do states move ethnic groups? (2) How do states move ethnic groups? (3) Under what circumstances will states engage in such policies?     

Patterns of minority and majority identification in a multicultural society

There has been increasing investigation of the national and ethnic identification of minority populations in Western societies and how far they raise questions about the success or failure of multicultural societies. Much of the political and academic discussion has, however, been premised on two assumptions. First, that ethnic minority and national identification are mutually exclusive, and, second, that national identification forms an overarching majority identity that represents consensus values. In this paper, using a large-scale nationally representative UK survey with a varied set of identity questions, and drawing on an extension of Berry's acculturation framework, we empirically test these two assumptions. We find that, among minorities, strong British national and minority identities often coincide and are not on an opposing axis. We also find that adherence to a British national identity shows cleavages within the white majority population. We further identify variation in these patterns by generation and political orientation.     

When markets blink: US stock price responses to the appointment of minority leaders

This study examines whether the appointment of racial/ethnic minorities into top management positions has a different impact on share price than the appointment of members of the racial/ethnic majority into equivalent positions. Our dependent variable is the degree of change in share price following the announcement of minority and majority men into senior management positions. Market reaction to the naming of minorities into corporate leadership positions is significant and negative while the market's reaction to the naming of members of the racial/ethnic majority is significant and positive. Our findings suggest that racial/ethnic integration of corporate hierarchies may be impeded as investor reaction increasingly drives firm-level governance decisions.     

Including Ethnic Minorities in Mental Health Intervention Research: A Practical Approach to a Long-Standing Problem

This paper examines a controversy that arose while developing a supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General that was focused on ethnic minority mental health. The controversy involved whether and how to make recommendations about ethnic minorities seeking mental health care. We found that few studies provided information on outcomes of mental health care for ethnic minorities. In this paper, we discuss outcomes of mental health care for ethnic minorities and how to proceed in developing an evidence base for understanding mental health care and minorities. We conclude that entering representative (based on population) numbers of ethnic minorities in efficacy trials is unlikely to produce useful information on outcomes of care because the numbers will be too small to produce reliable findings. We also conclude that while conducting randomized efficacy trials for all mental health interventions for each ethnic group would be impractical, innovative and theoretically informed studies that focus on specific cultural groups are needed to advance the knowledge base. We call for theory-driven research focused on mental health disparities that has the potential for understanding disparities and improving outcomes for ethnic minority populations.     

Think Leader,Think White? Capturing and Weakening an Implicit Pro-White Leadership Bias

Across four studies, we found evidence for an implicit pro-White leadership bias that helps explain the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in leadership positions. Both White-majority and ethnic minority participants reacted significantly faster when ethnically White names and leadership roles (e.g., manager; Study 1) or leadership traits (e.g., decisiveness; Study 2 & 3) were paired in an Implicit Association Test (IAT) rather than when ethnic minority names and leadership traits were paired. Moreover, the implicit pro-White leadership bias showed discriminant validity with the conventional implicit bias measures (Study 3). Importantly, results showed that the pro-White leadership bias can be weakened when situational cues increase the salience of a dual identity (Study 4). This, in turn, can diminish the explicit pro-White bias in promotion related decision making processes (Study 4). This research offers a new tool to measure the implicit psychological processes underlying the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in leadership positions and proposes interventions to weaken such biases.     

Self‐employment among French‐Canadians: The role of the regional milieu

This article examines the relationship between self‐employment among French‐Canadians and the regional milieu. Our main argument is that self‐employment among French‐Canadians depends on the specific regional milieu. The empirical analysis is based on the public use file on individuals of the 1986 Census of Canada. Self‐employment is related to mother tongue, region, industry, occupation, income and language spoken at home. Then, the association of socio‐economic and socio‐demographic attributes with self‐employment and mother tongue in different French‐Canadian communities is examined. The relation between self‐employment, regional milieus and French‐Canadian communities is further explored using the correspondence analysis method. Results show that in addition to variations in class resources and local opportunities, a majority or minority setting influences the economic niches utilized by French entrepreneurs. Among francophone minorities, small and relatively assimilated communities are usually more entrepreneurial than major francophone concentrations. However, this relationship is not causal, and does not indicate an economic benefit associated with assimilation. Still, French‐Canadians are not a typical entrepreneurial minority that utilizes extensive informal entrepreneurial networks for economic mobility, and the political and economic struggle of French‐Canadians for advancement has not been markedly focused on entrepreneur‐ship. In fact, our results suggest that self‐employment is not a major facet of group mobilization among francophones. Entrepreneurship is perceived by the francophone establishment as an important means for long‐term economic advancement. In attempting to promote entrepreneurship, the need to utilize ethnic networks and community cohesion is greatly acknowledged. We conclude that the preservation of autonomous ethno‐linguistic identity is viewed not only as a means for economic advancement but as a major goal by itself. Hence, French‐Canadians resemble, perhaps, certain sub‐national minorities in Europe, rather than other ethnic minorities in North America. The desired relationship between self‐employment and retention of group identity does not yet prevail, among French‐Canadians, and their political and economic struggle for advancement, so far, has not been focused on entrepreneurship.     

Minority statuses and positive views of the country in the United States: an investigation of nativity/immigrant status,and racial/ethnic and religious backgrounds

Using a nationally representative sample of adults in the US, this study examines the majority and minority’s positive views of the country in terms of nativity status, race and ethnicity, and religion. The results suggest that the majority–minority differences vary by demographic characteristics and attitudes examined. Although non-US citizens have a lower level of regard for the US as the best country in which to be a citizen than their counterparts, they have no less favourable views in other respects. Among ethnic minorities, only blacks have more negative views of the US than whites do. While religious minorities also have less regard for the country than the majority, individuals with no religious affiliation hold lower levels of most national attitudes. These findings suggest that the associations between minority status and views of the country go beyond race and ethnicity, which previous research has overlooked.     

Facilitating the Recruitment of Minority Ethnic People into Research: Qualitative Case Study of South Asians and Asthma

Background

There is international interest in enhancing recruitment of minority ethnic people into research, particularly in disease areas with substantial ethnic inequalities. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis found that UK South Asians are at three times increased risk of hospitalisation for asthma when compared to white Europeans. US asthma trials are far more likely to report enrolling minority ethnic people into studies than those conducted in Europe. We investigated approaches to bolster recruitment of South Asians into UK asthma studies through qualitative research with US and UK researchers, and UK community leaders.

Methods and Findings

Interviews were conducted with 36 researchers (19 UK and 17 US) from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and ten community leaders from a range of ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds, followed by self-completion questionnaires. Interviews were digitally recorded, translated where necessary, and transcribed. The Framework approach was used for analysis. Barriers to ethnic minority participation revolved around five key themes: (i) researchers'' own attitudes, which ranged from empathy to antipathy to (in a minority of cases) misgivings about the scientific importance of the question under study; (ii) stereotypes and prejudices about the difficulties in engaging with minority ethnic populations; (iii) the logistical challenges posed by language, cultural differences, and research costs set against the need to demonstrate value for money; (iv) the unique contexts of the two countries; and (v) poorly developed understanding amongst some minority ethnic leaders of what research entails and aims to achieve. US researchers were considerably more positive than their UK counterparts about the importance and logistics of including ethnic minorities, which appeared to a large extent to reflect the longer-term impact of the National Institutes of Health''s requirement to include minority ethnic people.

Conclusions

Most researchers and community leaders view the broadening of participation in research as important and are reasonably optimistic about the feasibility of recruiting South Asians into asthma studies provided that the barriers can be overcome. Suggested strategies for improving recruitment in the UK included a considerably improved support structure to provide academics with essential contextual information (e.g., languages of particular importance and contact with local gatekeepers), and the need to ensure that care is taken to engage with the minority ethnic communities in ways that are both culturally appropriate and sustainable; ensuring reciprocal benefits was seen as one key way of avoiding gatekeeper fatigue. Although voluntary measures to encourage researchers may have some impact, greater impact might be achieved if UK funding bodies followed the lead of the US National Institutes of Health requiring recruitment of ethnic minorities. Such a move is, however, likely in the short- to medium-term, to prove unpopular with many UK academics because of the added “hassle” factor in engaging with more diverse populations than many have hitherto been accustomed to. Please see later in the article for the Editors'' Summary     

The Association of Ethnic Minority Density with Late Entry into Antenatal Care in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, non-Western ethnic minority women make their first antenatal visit later than native Dutch women. Timely entry into antenatal care is important as it provides the opportunity for prenatal screening and the detection of risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. In this study we explored whether women''s timely entry is influenced by their neighborhood. Moreover, we assessed whether ethnic minority density (the proportion of ethnic minorities in a neighborhood) influences Western and non-Western ethnic minority women''s chances of timely entry into care differently. We hypothesized that ethnic minority density has a protective effect against non-Western women''s late entry into care. Data on time of entry into care and other individual-level characteristics were obtained from the Netherlands Perinatal Registry (2000-2008; 97% of all pregnancies). We derived neighborhood-level data from three other national databases. We included 1,137,741 pregnancies of women who started care under supervision of a community midwife in 3422 neighborhoods. Multi-level logistic regression was used to assess the associations of individual and neighborhood-level determinants with entry into antenatal care before and after 14 weeks of gestation. We found that neighborhood characteristics influence timely entry above and beyond individual characteristics. Ethnic minority density was associated with a higher risk of late entry into antenatal care. However, our analysis showed that for non-Western women, living in high ethnic minority density areas is less detrimental to their risk of late entry than for Western women. This means that a higher proportion of ethnic minority residents has a protective effect on non-Western women''s chances of timely entry into care. Our results suggest that strategies to improve timely entry into care could seek to create change at the neighborhood level in order to target individuals likely of entering care too late.     

The contact–prejudice relationship among ethnic minorities: examining personal discrimination as a boundary condition

This paper contributes to the literature on how perceived discrimination influences the impact of intergroup contact among ethnic minority members. Previous research has shown that perceived group discrimination inhibits the positive outcomes of intergroup contact among ethnic minority members. In extension, this paper examines whether perceived personal discrimination has a similar negative impact as a boundary condition of the contact–prejudice relationship among ethnic minority members. Analyses expand previous intergroup contact research by showing that the impact of intergroup contact is uniform across various levels of perceived personal discrimination. This finding suggests that the otherwise harmful consequences of perceived personal discrimination can be effectively counterbalanced by positive contact experiences among ethnic minority members. Analyses use evidence from a national probability sample, which was fielded in 2006 to examine some of the largest ethnic minority groups (N?=?3,462). The concluding section discusses the theoretical implications of the empirical findings.     

Inequality of Experience of Dental Caries between Different Ethnic Groups of Brazilians Aged 15 to 19 Years

Introduction

The aim of this study was to assess inequality of experience of dental caries, based on race/ethnicity, among Brazilian adolescents aged 15 to 19 years in 2010 and test whether socioeconomic indicators fully explain ethnic differences in dental caries.

Methods

Data from a National Oral Health Survey conducted in Brazil in 2010 was analysed. Race/ethnicity was self-assigned and modified to White, African descents, East Asian descents, Mixed Race and Indigenous descents. The prevalence of caries experience by race/ethnic group in 2010(n = 5,367) was calculated. Further analysis included conceptual hierarchical modelling and mediation analysis.

Results

Caries experience was 76.9% in 15 to 19 year old Brazilians in 2010. While African descents were 32% more likely to have caries experience than Whites, Mixed Race were 69% more likely to have caries experience than Whites. Hierarchical conceptual modelling analysis confirmed the highly significant association between caries and race/ethnicity. Mixed Race and East Asian descents were 1.44 (95% CI 1.24–1.67) and 1.81 (95% CI 1.02–3.20) times more likely to experience caries than Whites after adjusting for age, sex, education and income. The difference in the likelihood of experiencing caries between Whites and African descents was not statistically significant after adjusting for years of education and family income. The results of mediation analysis confirmed that inequality of caries experience between Whites and Mixed Race and East Asian descents was mediated through education and income. The likelihood that Mixed Race and East Asian descents would experience caries compared to Whites was attenuated, by 14.8% and by 9.5% respectively, after adjusting for years of education and income.

Conclusions

Data analysis demonstrated that Whites have benefited more from the significant reduction in dental caries experience in 15 to 19 year old Brazilians, as compared to African descents and Mixed Race. Education and income fully explained ethnic inequalities in experience of dental caries between Whites and African descents, and largely explained inequalities between Whites and Mixed Race.     

Voluntary and Involuntary Minorities: A Cultural-Ecological Theory of School Performance with Some Implications for Education

This article has three objectives. First, it describes Ogbu's classification of minorities: autonomous, voluntary or immigrant, and involuntary or nonimmigrant minorities. Second, it explains Ogbu's cultural-ecological theory of minority school performance. Finally, it suggests some implications of the theory for pedagogy. The authors regard the typology of minority groups as a heuristic device for analysis and interpretation of differences among minority groups in school experience.     

Ethnic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake and comparison to seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in Greater Manchester,UK: A cohort study

BackgroundCOVID-19 vaccine uptake is lower amongst most minority ethnic groups compared to the White British group in England, despite higher COVID-19 mortality rates. Here, we add to existing evidence by estimating inequalities for 16 minority ethnic groups, examining ethnic inequalities within population subgroups, and comparing the magnitudes of ethnic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake to those for routine seasonal influenza vaccine uptake.Methods and findingsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Greater Manchester Care Record, which contains de-identified electronic health record data for the population of Greater Manchester, England. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate ethnic inequalities in time to COVID-19 vaccination amongst people eligible for vaccination on health or age (50+ years) criteria between 1 December 2020 and 18 April 2021 (138 days of follow-up). We included vaccination with any approved COVID-19 vaccine, and analysed first-dose vaccination only. We compared inequalities between COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake adjusting by age group and clinical risk, and used subgroup analysis to identify populations where inequalities were widest. The majority of individuals (871,231; 79.24%) were White British. The largest minority ethnic groups were Pakistani (50,268; 4.75%), ‘other White background’ (43,195; 3.93%), ‘other ethnic group’ (34,568; 3.14%), and Black African (18,802; 1.71%). In total, 83.64% (919,636/1,099,503) of eligible individuals received a COVID-19 vaccine. Uptake was lower compared to the White British group for 15 of 16 minority ethnic groups, with particularly wide inequalities amongst the groups ‘other Black background’ (hazard ratio [HR] 0.42, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.44), Black African (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.44), Arab (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.48), and Black Caribbean (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.45). In total, 55.71% (419,314/752,715) of eligible individuals took up influenza vaccination. Compared to the White British group, inequalities in influenza vaccine uptake were widest amongst the groups ‘White and Black Caribbean’ (HR 0.63, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.68) and ‘White and Black African’ (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.72). In contrast, uptake was slightly higher than the White British group amongst the groups ‘other ethnic group’ (HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.12) and Bangladeshi (HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.11). Overall, ethnic inequalities in vaccine uptake were wider for COVID-19 than influenza vaccination for 15 of 16 minority ethnic groups. COVID-19 vaccine uptake inequalities also existed amongst individuals who previously took up influenza vaccination. Ethnic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake were concentrated amongst older and extremely clinically vulnerable adults, and the most income-deprived. A limitation of this study is the focus on uptake of the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination, rather than full COVID-19 vaccination.ConclusionsEthnic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake exceeded those for influenza vaccine uptake, existed amongst those recently vaccinated against influenza, and were widest amongst those with greatest COVID-19 risk. This suggests the COVID-19 vaccination programme has created additional and different inequalities beyond pre-existing health inequalities. We suggest that further research and policy action is needed to understand and remove barriers to vaccine uptake, and to build trust and confidence amongst minority ethnic communities.

Ruth Elizabeth Watkinson and colleagues estimate inequalities in Covid-19 vaccine uptake for 16 minority ethnic groups and compare them to those in routine seasonal Influenza vaccine uptake.     

Drinking in different social contexts among white, black, and Hispanic men

This paper describes alcohol use by White, Black, and Hispanic men in eight different social settings. Data were obtained from a multi-stage probability sample of the household population of White, Black, and Hispanic adults aged 18 years and over, residing in the 48 contiguous United States. The response rate was 73 percent for Whites, 76 percent for Blacks, and 72 percent for Hispanics. Results show that Whites go more frequently and drink more frequently than Blacks and Hispanics at restaurants, in clubs or organizational meetings, and in bars. Blacks go more frequently than Whites and Hispanics to public settings such as parks, streets, and parking lots; however, the mean number of drinks consumed in these public places and the proportion of men drinking five or more drinks is higher for Hispanics than for Whites and Blacks. Other places where heavier drinking is common in all three ethnic groups are bars, taverns and cocktail lounges, and parties. In all three ethnic groups, men who are younger and those who are single go more frequently than other men to bars or public places such as streets, parks, and parking lots. Men who are younger and those who are single also have a higher rate of heavy drinking and of drunkenness than other men.     

Do attitudes expressed in surveys predict ethnic discrimination?

Survey data on people’s reported attitudes towards ethnic minorities are sometimes used as a proxy for ethnic discrimination. However, there is weak empirical evidence of a link between reported attitudes and discrimination. In this article, we use survey data on people’s attitudes towards ethnic minorities combined with a direct measure of ethnic discrimination from a field experiment in the Swedish housing market to re-examine this policy-relevant issue. We find clear evidence of a link between reported attitudes towards ethnic minorities and the extent of ethnic discrimination: in regions where attitudes are more negative, there is more discrimination, and vice versa. Thus, in contrast to most prior studies, our results suggest that reported attitudes may be a useful predictor of ethnic discrimination.     

The appropriate response of Spanish Gitanos: short-run orientation beyond current socio-economic status

Humans differ greatly in their tendency to discount future events, but the reasons underlying such inter-individual differences remain poorly understood. Based on the evolutionary framework of Life History Theory, influential models predict that the extent to which individuals discount the future should be influenced by socio-ecological factors such as mortality risk, environmental predictability and resource scarcity. However, little empirical work has been conducted to compare the discounting behavior of human groups facing different socio-ecological conditions. In a lab-in-the-field economic experiment, we compared the delay discounting of a sample of Romani people from Southern Spain (Gitanos) with that of their non-Romani neighbors (i.e., the majority Spanish population). The Romani-Gitano population constitutes the main ethnic minority in all of Europe today and is characterized by lower socio-economic status (SES), lower life expectancy and poorer health than the majority, along with a historical experience of discrimination and persecution. According to those Life History Theory models, Gitanos will tend to adopt “faster” life history strategies (e.g., earlier marriage and reproduction) as an adaptation to such ecological conditions and, therefore, should discount the future more heavily than the majority. Our results support this prediction, even after controlling for the individuals' current SES (income and education). Moreover, group-level differences explain a large share of the individual-level differences. Our data suggest that human inter-group discrimination might shape group members' time preferences through its impact on the environmental harshness and unpredictability conditions they face.     

Genetic Relationships of Ethnic Minorities in Southwest China Revealed by Microsatellite Markers

Population migrations in Southwest and South China have played an important role in the formation of East Asian populations and led to a high degree of cultural diversity among ethnic minorities living in these areas. To explore the genetic relationships of these ethnic minorities, we systematically surveyed the variation of 10 autosomal STR markers of 1,538 individuals from 30 populations of 25 ethnic minorities, of which the majority were chosen from Southwest China, especially Yunnan Province. With genotyped data of the markers, we constructed phylogenies of these populations with both D_A and D_C measures and performed a principal component analysis, as well as a clustering analysis by structure. Results showed that we successfully recovered the genetic structure of analyzed populations formed by historical migrations. Aggregation patterns of these populations accord well with their linguistic affiliations, suggesting that deciphering of genetic relationships does in fact offer clues for study of ethnic differentiation.     

Are people more averse to microbe-sharing contact with ethnic outgroup members? A registered report

Intergroup biases are widespread across cultures and time. The current study tests an existing hypothesis that has been proposed to explain such biases: the mind has evolved to interpret outgroup membership as a cue to pathogen threat. In this registered report, we test a core feature of this hypothesis. Adapting methods from earlier work, we examine (1) whether people are less comfortable with microbe-sharing contact with an ethnic outgroup member than an ethnic ingroup member, and (2) whether this difference is exacerbated by additional visual cues to a target's infectiousness. Using Chinese (N = 1533) and British (N = 1371) samples recruited from the online platforms WJX and Prolific, we assessed contact comfort with targets who were either East Asian or White and who were either modified to have symptoms of infection or unmodified (or, for exploratory purposes, modified to wear facemasks). Contact comfort was lower for targets modified to have symptoms of infection. However, we detected no differences in contact comfort with ethnic-ingroup targets versus ethnic-outgroup targets. These results do not support the hypothesis that people interpret ethnic outgroup membership alone as a cue to infection risk.     

Racial Bias in Perceptions of Others’ Pain

The present work provides evidence that people assume a priori that Blacks feel less pain than do Whites. It also demonstrates that this bias is rooted in perceptions of status and the privilege (or hardship) status confers, not race per se. Archival data from the National Football League injury reports reveal that, relative to injured White players, injured Black players are deemed more likely to play in a subsequent game, possibly because people assume they feel less pain. Experiments 1–4 show that White and Black Americans–including registered nurses and nursing students–assume that Black people feel less pain than do White people. Finally, Experiments 5 and 6 provide evidence that this bias is rooted in perceptions of status, not race per se. Taken together, these data have important implications for understanding race-related biases and healthcare disparities.