ABSTRACT
Minority status is conferred not on individuals but on whole categories of people who lack the kind of power that the majority group holds in a society on the basis of the ascribed statuses of race, ethnicity, and religion. As a result of immigration, colonization, or conquest, most nations have become plural societies consisting of a majority group and groups that differ from it because of culture, appearance, or religion the so called minorities. Race was a concept scientists used in the past to describe biological differences occurring in the human species. Ethnicity refers to a group's distinctiveness on social and cultural grounds that differ from those of the majority because of national background. The contemporary prevailing ideology is couched in the policy of multiculturalism. This policy began as an educational program that tried to focus attention on the cultural diversity existing in American society. It also made an attempt at promoting the equality of all cultural traditions.
