| Abstrakt: |
This article focuses on the group belongingness among African Americans. The member of a minority group more likely experiences forces to leave his group that encounter overpowering barriers. Cognitions, role expectations, and self-perceptions show evidence of uncertainty and unflattering images of oneself as a person and group member are common. A review of the growing literature in this area will be followed by a report on African American characterizations of their group membership, a tentative typology of African American belongingness, and an attempted theoretical integration of the general problem of minority group membership. Since belonging to a minority group often may be accompanied by forces away from group membership, individuals in such situations are kept together to a certain extent by rejection from the majority. One's own group often cannot satisfy motives for prestige, security, and status; other group members are perceived as not worthy associates; the norms and values of the group are reacted to with the generalized attitude of the majority. |
