Exit, Voice, and Disloyalty

This Lecture begins with a puzzle about Albert Hirschman’s famous work Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Why do we make much of exit and voice but utterly neglect loyalty? It’s a question that goes well beyond Hirschman’s book. For example, much of constitutional theory is preoccupied with a single question: What doesademocracy owe its minorities? And most of the answers to this question fit naturally into the two categories Hirschman made famous: voice and exit. On both the rights side and the structural side of constitutional theory, scholars worry about providing minorities with an adequate level of influence. And the solutions they propose almost inevitably offer minorities a chance at voice or exit, ] as if no other option exists. The First Amendment, for instance, offers minorities the right to free speech (voice) and private association (exit). Similarly, structural arrangements give minorities the chance to vote in national elections (voice) and in state elections (exit)

[Review of] Georgina Ashworth (Ed.). World Minorities

At the present time, World Minorities is a very appropriate title for a book, since it coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and President Jimmy Carter\u27s strong, favorable stand for them. The publication of the second volume of World Minorities by the Minority Rights Group based in London, England, is a welcome addition to the many voices recently raised to safeguard and in defense of the rights of minorities around the world

Suspicion of Motives Predicts Minorities' Responses to Positive Feedback in Interracial Interactions.

Strong social and legal norms in the United States discourage the overt expression of bias against ethnic and racial minorities, increasing the attributional ambiguity of Whites' positive behavior to ethnic minorities. Minorities who suspect that Whites' positive overtures toward minorities are motivated more by their fear of appearing racist than by egalitarian attitudes may regard positive feedback they receive from Whites as disingenuous. This may lead them to react to such feedback with feelings of uncertainty and threat. Three studies examined how suspicion of motives relates to ethnic minorities' responses to receiving positive feedback from a White peer or same-ethnicity peer (Experiment 1), to receiving feedback from a White peer that was positive or negative (Experiment 2), and to receiving positive feedback from a White peer who did or did not know their ethnicity (Experiment 3). As predicted, the more suspicious Latinas were of Whites' motives for behaving positively toward minorities in general, the more they regarded positive feedback from a White peer who knew their ethnicity as disingenuous and the more they reacted with cardiovascular reactivity characteristic of threat/avoidance, increased feelings of stress, heightened uncertainty, and decreased self-esteem. We discuss the implications for intergroup interactions of perceptions of Whites' motives for nonprejudiced behavior

Complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities predicts system justification in Poland

We investigate the phenomenon of complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities in Poland and its relationship to system justification. Using results from a nationally representative survey we test the hypothesis that complementary stereotypes—according to which ethnic minorities are seen as possessing distinctive, offsetting strengths and weaknesses—would be associated with system justification among Polish majority citizens. For four minorities, results indicated that stereotyping them as (a) low in morality but high in competence or (b) high in morality but low in competence predicted greater system justification. These results suggest that even in a context that is low in support for the status quo, complementary stereotyping of ethnic minorities is linked to system justification processes. For the three minority groups that were lowest in social status, complementary stereotyping was unrelated to system justification. It appears that negative attitude towards these groups can be expressed openly, regardless of one’s degree of system justification

Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India’s Scheduled Areas

Does political affirmative action undermine or promote development, and for whom? We examine Scheduled Areas in India, which reserve political office for the historically disadvantaged Scheduled Tribes. We apply a new theoretical framework and dataset of 217,000 villages to evaluate the overall impact of affirmative action on development, as well as its distributional consequences for minorities and non-minorities. Examining effects on the world’s largest employment program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, we find that reservations deliver no worse overall outcomes, that there are large gains for targeted minorities, and that these gains come at the cost of the relatively privileged, not other minorities. We also find broader improvements in other pro-poor policies, including a rural roads program and general public goods. Contrary to the expectations of affirmative action skeptics, our results indicate that affirmative action can redistribute both political and economic power without hindering overall development

What are Companies Doing to Retain as Well as Develop People of Color and Women?

[Excerpt] Despite their best efforts, many corporations are unsuccessful in their attempts to create more inclusive environments that allow for progression and growth of women and minorities. More than 75% of CEOs include gender equality in their top ten business priorities, but gender outcomes across the largest companies are not changing. People of color represent 18% of directors and women of color represent only 4% of directors. Many leaders would theorize that this is a “pipeline” issue in that fewer qualified women and minorities are available in the workforce. However, the numbers just don’t support this hypothesis—the number of women and minorities in the workforce has been rising steadily since 1980; indeed, both groups have been in the workforce long enough to have been groomed for ascension to higher ranks. This research will identify key considerations for developing women and minorities as well as possible ways for building more inclusive mindsets

Comparative Analysis of the Situation of Ethnic Minorities in Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia

This paper aims at discussing the matter of the national minorities in Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia. Role, position and the rights of the national minorities are the key focus of this study. While the Balkan countries and some European countries have had issues with recognizing and supporting the different ethnic communities living within their borders, Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia have, since their independence, recognized the existence of different communities as a given fact. Since gaining independence, they have constitutionally guaranteed all citizens freedom of association for the ‘accomplishment and protection of their political, economic, social, cultural and other rights and beliefs. Being a geographical part of the Western Balkans, these two countries have been delayed in the European integration process even though their peoples and governments aspire to become part of the European Union. I think that national minorities have an important role in this process because, in the past, these two states have been characterized by a lack of respecting the rights of national minorities. For this reason, both countries have faced a lack of internal stability and conflict with each other as a result of the lack of respect for the rights of respective national minorities

Attitudes Towards Immigrants, Other Integration Barriers, and Their Veracity

The paper studies opinions and attitudes towards immigrants and minorities and their interactions with other barriers to minorities' economic integration. Specifically, we consider the minority experts' own perceptions about these issues, the veracities and repercussions of unfavorable attitudes of natives. Employing newly available data from the IZA Expert Opinion Survey 2007 we depict main trends in the integration situation of ethnic minorities in Europe in a comparative manner. Using a unique dataset, this innovative study is the first to gauge the perspectives of expert stakeholders and ethnic minorities on their integration situation and the main barriers that hinder it. Robust findings show that ethnic minorities: face integration problems; natives' general negative attitudes are a key factor of their challenging situation; discrimination is acknowledged as the single most important integration barrier; low education and self-confidence as well as cultural differences also hinder integration; minorities want change and that it come about by policies based on the principle of equal treatment. Well designed integration policies that take the specific situation of the respective ethnic minority into account, are persistent and enforce anti-discrimination laws are desirable.Attitudes, opinions, immigrants, ethnic minorities, labor market