Final answer:
Key to Minority Influence is consistency, commitment, and flexibility, rather than open conflict. Factors such as a lack of power, the presence of an ally, and a bias toward compromise are significant in understanding how minority groups can impact decision-making and resist conformity. Improving minority representation in Congress involves multiple strategies beyond majority-minority districts.
Step-by-step explanation:
A key element to Minority Influence involves the impact a smaller group within a larger population can have on shaping views and causing change, despite being numerically fewer. This phenomenon is best understood by looking at the following elements:
- Open Conflict: Open conflict is not typically seen as a key element of Minority Influence. Instead, it involves consistency, commitment, and flexibility.
- The one defining feature of a minority group can be considered their lack of power compared to the majority.
- In Asch's study on conformity, having an ally was found to contribute significantly to the ability of subjects to resist conforming.
- When it comes to collective decision-making, there is a bias toward compromise.
Improving Minority Representation
For increasing minority representation in Congress, the solution may not only rest on majority-minority districts but could also encompass increasing sensitivity to constituents' demands and increasing the number of minority members in Congress.
Understanding these aspects of minority influence and representation helps us to analyze civil rights abuses and the relationship between the majority and minority groups and to consider the role of government and political institutions in enforcing civil rights.