Middleman minority

A middleman minority is a minority population whose main occupations link producers and consumers: traders, money-lenders, etc. A middleman minority, while possibly suffering discrimination and bullying, does not hold an "extreme subordinate" status in society.^[1] The "middleman minority" concept was developed by sociologists Hubert Blalock and Edna Bonacich starting in the 1960s but is also used by political scientists and economists. This idea was further developed by American economist Thomas Sowell.^[2]

Overview

There are numerous examples of such groups gaining eventual prosperity in their adopted country despite discrimination. Often, they will take on roles between producer and consumer, such as trading and moneylending. Famous examples such as Jews throughout Europe even at times when discrimination against them was high, Chinese throughout Southeast Asia and North America, Muslims and Parsis in India, Igbos in Nigeria, Indians in East Africa, Lebanese in West Africa, and many others.^[3]

Middleman minorities usually provide an economic benefit to communities and nations and often start new industries. However, their economic aptitude, financial success and clannishness, combined with social prejudices by other groups against businesses and moneylending, can cause resentment among the native population of a country. Middleman minorities can be victims of racist violence, terrorists, bullying, genocide, racialist policy, or other forms of repression. Other ethnic groups often accuse them of plotting conspiracies against their nation or of stealing wealth from the native population.^[3]

Examples

In Africa

• Indians in East Africa^[4]
• Igbos in Nigeria
• Syrians and Lebanese in West Africa^[4]

In South Asia

• Gujaratis in India^[4]
• Marwaris in India
• Parsis in India^[4]
• Bohras in India

In North America

• Jewish Americans
• Indian Americans
• Korean Americans^[5]
• Chinese Americans
• Greek Americans^[4]

In South America

• Japanese in South America^[4]
• Lebanese in South America^[6]
• The majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries Middle Eastern immigrants to Brazil (Lebanese, Syrians, etc., collectively called "arabes" or "turcos", the latter term because they came from the Ottoman Empire) were peddlers, merchants and other types of non-"producers".^[7]

In West Asia

• Ottoman Greeks^[4]
• Arab Christians in the Arab world^[8]
• Hadhramis^[9][10][11]

Elsewhere

• Chinese in Southeast Asia^[4]
• Indians in Southeast Asia.
• Armenians in the Ottoman Empire^[12][13]

See also

• Colonialism, particularly exploitation colonialism and plantation colonies
• Dominant minority
• Market-dominant minority
• Minoritarianism
• Model minority
• Neocolonialism
• World on Fire (book)
• Yuri Slezkine's book The Jewish Century (2004) discussed the concept of "Mercurian" people "specializ[ing] exclusively in providing services to the surrounding food-producing societies," which are characterized as "Apollonians"