Abstract
Every country in the world is confronted with minorities, and resulting problems have always to be solved in the specific context. The conventional approach to the minority issue is from a quantitative perspective (minorities seen as numerically inferior groups), but beyond this simple perspective there are other concerns, such as the access to and the exercise of power, which determine the relationships between majority and minorities. Every society is a system, composed of numerous elements, and there are usually minorities of some sort. This fact is often forgotten by the mainstream and/or dominant social group(s). Certain minorities are therefore either overlooked or persecuted, and also the political system tends to ignore them. Ethnic and cultural groups figure prominently among such minorities, but we can add others, such as the handicapped, the poor, the unemployed, or ex-convicts. However, there is also the possibility of an alternative approach: minorities can be seen positively, as a sign of diversity and a reminder of certain human duties. Diversity is desirable because it is the opposite to (sterile) uniformity and a challenge to linear thinking. It also ensures the long-term survival of a society and its development potential. The chapter addresses the minority issue by drawing on the example of Switzerland, a country composed of several overlapping minority groups. The political challenge is substantial, and the changing national and international contexts put the system to a constant test.
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- 1.
To some extent this applies also to women who are all too often marginalized when it comes to major decisions in all strands of life (see Lucas 2015 and other contributions in that volume).
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Epitomized by the sheep on Animal Farm, bleating “Four legs good, two legs bad” (Orwell 1945).
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They are now recognized as a most valuable group in modern society since they work for, not against the ecosystem. The organic movement is almost 100 years old (Leimgruber et al. 1997), but its true merits have only been recognized since the 1980s.
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Leimgruber, W. (2018). Minorities—An Expression of Diversity and an Exercise in Tolerance. In: Pelc, S., Koderman, M. (eds) Nature, Tourism and Ethnicity as Drivers of (De)Marginalization. Perspectives on Geographical Marginality, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59002-8_9
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