Theorizing a Feeling of Minorization
This article aims to provide a first theorization as to the existence of a feeling of minoritization that would be a part of the experience of minority groups, and which would help to understand their political claims and behaviour. It also aims to develop this theory in contact with the reality of Canadian Francophones in minority situations, who define themselves through this situation rather than geographically (as outside Québec). We first proceed through crossed readings of the philosophical works of Deleuze and Guattari and of Tocqueville, in order to bring precision to the concept of minority in relation to power and outside of a reference to demography, before sketching the outline of the feelings of minoritization and of equality. Secondly we move on to the contemporary literature on collective emotions intergroup relations in order to validate and further make precise the results of these readings. Finally, we turn to the event of « black Thursday » in Francophone Ontario, when the provincial government brought an end to two institutions serving Franco-Ontarians, in order to understand the reaction of the Francophone population in relation to the feeling of minoritization. This study finds, through a categorization of political feelings tied to the relationship to social norms, that a feeling of minoritization can emerge in a context where a group feels it is equal or superior to other groups and expects to be able to play a part in the definition of what constitutes the norm for the wider society.