superminority

Noun

superminority (plural superminorities)

1. A voting block which, although it has less than 50% of the vote, has sufficient numbers to prevent any other group from forming a supermajority.
   • A President and a “superminority" of Congress—41 percent of one house—in the exercise of the constitutional mandate to “ensure” that outlays do not exceed receipts, might kill or maim any program they did not like—social security, environmental, defense—so long as the President could hold the...1982, Rights of Employed Inventors
   • Under this approach, a superminority of 34 Senators could prevent a sole executive agreement from enjoying the full force of the supremacy clause vis-a-vis state laws.1993, Temple international and comparative law journal
2. (broadly) A minority group that wields disproportionate power.
   • This is an escalating process until we have a highly privileged superminority with a vested interest in increasing its numbers and its power. At that point the people have become servants of the bureaucracy, rather than the bureaucracy being a service function of the government, working for the...1979, Rodney Petersen, The philosophy of a peasant, page 244
   • State governors clamor for state control. They fear local control could generate a hodge—podge of conflicting rules and that a state's solid waste policy could be dictated by a "superminority" of activists in a given county.1992, Environmental Law Update, page 389
3. An ethnic minority group that is seen as having outstanding abilities.
   • Although the idea that they are a superminority is a new one, the increase in Asian- American activism is the result of years of discrimination.1987, Newsweek - Volume 109, Issues 18-26, page 12
   • Assimilationist ideology of late has been refurbished by a neoliberal policy of multiculturalism, affording us a schizoid if pragmatic optic to handle this racializing dilemma. Mocking all hermeneutics of suspicion, the enigmatic superminority image of Asian Americans persists.2002, E. San Juan Jr., Racism and Cultural Studies, →ISBN
4. A member of a minority group who has extraordinary abilities, often one who is identified as a leader and representative of the entire ethnic group.
   • White males find it inherently impossible to believe that a woman or minority can be competent and can be qualified. It's a very, very difficult thing. I have seen people who appeared to be genuinely sincere struggling with this, and they find it very, very difficult to conceive of women and...1976, Affirmative Action in Employment in Higher Education
   • Teachers and counselors offer a good resource for identification or potential Hispanic health professional students. However, I must point out a potential problem which I have personally encountered in working with secondary, undergraduate and professional school faculty. Often this group must be...1979, Paquita Vivó, Hispanic Mosaic: A Forum on Hispanic Health Concerns, page 33
5. A large minority group that comprises a significant percentage of the population or most of the minority population.
   • And out of the 326 village corporation shareholders, we only make up 37, so again, we are a superminority of our own corporation, so whatever the corporation decides to do, we have to go along with it because we don't have the votes to overpower the majority.1999, United States Congress. House Committee on Resources, HR 2547, to provide for the conveyance of land interests to Chugach Alaska Corporation to fulfill the intent, purpose, and promise of the...
   • Sheer numbers are changing that, but despite Spanish surnames popping up everywhere, this usually gentle and hardworking superminority hasn't yet learned that the wheel that squeaks loudest gets the grease.2011, Boze Hadleigh, Mexico's Most Wanted
6. Multiple minority groups, seen as a single coalition or group.
   • There is the assumption, underlying this problem with minorities, that all minorities will get together and form some form of superminority constituency—otherwise they wouldn't be all that effective— and I don't see any validity to that.1977, Martia Diamond., The Electoral College and The American Idea of Democracy
   • Under the multicultural dispensation, Hispanics get to be considered “nonwhite”, as members of that global, monolithic “superminority” defined only by its opposition to the European ascendancy.2010, J. R. Dunn, Time For Hate! Tree of Liberty Patriot's Fascism End the FED
7. A person who is a member of multiple minority groups.
   • This concept is legally established by federal court decisions that have decreed that black women can represent blacks, but may not represent women as a group or be considered a "superminority" in a class action.2008, Barbara L Bernier, “Unholy Troika: Gender, Race and Religiosity in the 2008 Presidential Contest”, in Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, volume 15, pages 277–278
   • The erasure of a queer of color faculty and the difficulties for the research team to understand an intersectional experience was evident from the beginning of the study when the author identified thos who are both LGBt and racial and ethnic minorities to be "superminorities" who were...2016, Patricia A. Matthew, Written/Unwritten: Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure, →ISBN, page 120