1MINORITY CHALLENGE TO MAJORITY IDENTITY: TOWARD A THEORY By

This paper deals with the premise that ethnic minority groups, to the extent that they retain their identity in a larger or smaller degree, present a challenge to the identity of the majority, i.e., the dominant, group in society. My consideration of this issue derives from what sociologically speaking is the nature of ethnically diverse societies: Distinct minority ethnic groups existing in a society whose institutions are determined by the culture of a different, but dominant, ethnic group. While on the one hand the dominant culture, by that fact, presents a challenge to the minority groups ' cultures-- a challenge that in our society is usually approached through the process of assimilation of the minority groups-- the persistence of cultural identity of the minority groups in turn must present some kind of challenge to the majority identity. I am not referring here to the political challenge posed by separatist ethnic minority groups or minority groups who make land claims on historical grounds. I am referring to groups who have retained a degree o