The Minority Effect in Effect: What Happens When People Are in the Minority at Work or School?

Dr. Charles B. Hutchison

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

To walk into an open fire or the eye of the storm is insane. However, each day in America, millions are expected to do so with a smile; each day, millions of Americans are expected to show up at work or school as the racial, religious, or gender minority and work as if all is well. For these people, being the situational minority is often like walking into the open fire, and they pay a price for it; a price that is invisible, yet measurable: these people slowly burn up or under-perform, unless appropriate steps are taken to counteract the effects of the fire.

Because this fire in invisible and its effects are not felt by the majority, its existence is mostly dismissed or neglected, at the expense of productivity. On the other hand, for the same reason that the fire is invisible, minorities themselves often wonder if it exists only in their imaginations, even when they know that they are slowly burning up, breaking out in cold sweat, and feeling as if they are living their professional lives sitting in the proverbial “hot seat” in an air-conditioned room. This duality of existence, whereby the minority lives in a separate experiential reality from the majority’s, creates misunderstanding in a pluralistic society where racial, religious, and gender harmony is vital for social progress.

In the book What Happens When Students Are in the Minority: Experiences that Impact Human Performance, I use the real-life narratives of twenty-nine individuals and about fifty cases to illustrate what minorities go through day after day, and year after year, and what it does to them. The result is what I term the “minority effect,” a kind of syndrome whereby otherwise normal human beings who find themselves as the minorities in different situations, feel as if they have been placed on stage with a spotlight on them. Consequently, they become prisoners of anxiety and engage in certain predictable, negative behaviors. Owing to sheer anxiety and mental overload, these situational minorities often find themselves behaving unintelligently, against their better judgment: otherwise nice boys and girls behave awkwardly, gentlemen and ladies lose their compasses, and the noble forget their nobility. Ultimately, they fulfill what they fear most: reinforcing stereotypes or unfounded suspicions about the groups they represent.

The following excerpts from the book illustrate the minority effect:

A lone White male at a Black party: “It did not occur to me until I entered the ballroom that I might be the only white person in the room. Sure enough, I was! … Not only was I the only white person, but I was far from dressed for the occasion. Although my [Black] roommate was not dressed for the occasion, either, he didn’t mind. I nearly completely shut down. I saw all eyes on me. I didn’t just feel the eyes; I saw them. Everyone I looked at was virtually staring at me because I had no business being there whatsoever. I looked at my roommate to see if he might have noticed, but he was too busy among the crowds, enjoying himself.”

The only male at a women’s gathering in his own house: “With my new position as the minority, I felt just as strange walking into my own house full of women …. Not only out of place in my own house, but I was also cooking. Out of place and out of role, my obsession was to try and disappear into the back of the kitchen and finish the meal. I tried some lame jokes, pathetic conversations, and felt terribly out of place, weird, and extremely uncomfortable. Nothing really mattered except to finish my job there and disappear out the back door. Even though the ladies attempted to make me feel comfortable and did nothing to make me feel otherwise, I struggled to hide my cold sweat.”

A White female in a Black church when the pastor invited the congregation to open their Bibles and follow along while he read a passage of scripture: “I had my Bible but found myself fumbling to find the correct scripture reference. I couldn’t remember what verse he had just said to find. As we stood up, I was still turning pages, wondering if everyone around me noticed that I was slow in finding the passage.”

A Black woman in a White church: “It’s one thing to be the minority, but to feel the minority is a different story. I felt like all eyes were on me, the environment itself felt strange, and I felt lost. It was out of my comfort zone because I didn’t see anyone who looked like me, with whom I could possibly relate to. I kept my head straight forward in fear that I would not receive a welcoming smile if I established eye contact with anyone. I think my face began to show fear.”

Latino woman’s reflection about school: “I was an outsider looking in, and certainly not part of the majority group. To accentuate this situation was the name-calling, the group intimidating threats, isolation, and the low expectations from the teachers. Needless to say, I felt neglected, abused, and somewhat ashamed. I was helpless, I now see, because the situation was beyond my control. I could not control their actions toward me any more than I had the ability to change who I was. I responded to the situation the only way I knew how: with my sharp words and my fists. At the time, it seemed to be the best way to handle the situation, much to my parents’ chagrin. … My actions resulted in not only short-term but also long-term consequences. My actions only perpetuated the stereotypes the other children had made about me. … I had resorted to violence, which only resulted in my feelings of increased isolation.”

What the book excerpts above attempt to do is to illustrate that all human beings are the same, and respond to human pressures in similar ways: behaving like fish out of water. For this reason, situational minorities at school or work are unlikely to perform at their highest potentials if their situations are not understood and addressed. As a diverse society, we need to strive to understand the dynamics of human behavior and performance: why minorities struggle in majority schools, or why the only male or female on the team has to overcome a mental barrier in order to catch up.

In the next installment, I will discuss the topic, “What happens when children are the minorities in school.”

Written for the Charlotte Post; October, 2009.

=======================

Dr. Charles B. Hutchison was born in Ghana and is a professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His latest book is titled, What Happens When Students Are in the Minority: Experiences that Impact Human Performance. He is the recipient of Recognition and Key to the City of Boston, and has appeared on, or been featured by, local and international news media, including CBS NightWatch, Voice of America, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and several others. He has lived and worked in Africa, Europe, and provides workshops on diversity, international education, and cross-cultural issues. He can be reached at 704-687-8885 or chutchis@uncc.edu.