The Problem With The Term "Marginalized Groups"

And what to do about it

I was reading an article or a tweet and it used the term “marginalized groups” to express some sort of disparity or inequality. And my initial reaction was—that term is offensive. It’s also vague. The author of course meant no offense. He or she was merely expressing a fact about inequality or discrimination, so how could that be offensive?

Any sort of analysis around group classification, specifically racial, like white people or black people or Hispanic people, frequently comes with logical errors and underlying biases. The term marginalized group in the U.S. is often referring to black people (for obvious historical reasons), and then comes the large wealth and income gap statistics. Then the causes—systemic racism, structural inequality, etc. But the problem with these facts and arguments, and the term “marginalized groups”, is they do more to mislead than elucidate. And rarely come with solutions.  

Logically, one can be a part of a marginalized group and not be marginalized. And vice versa. I don’t lose sleep over the lack of opportunities that Lebron James and Tiger Woods’s kids will have to deal with. People who use the term marginalized groups in academic research and journalism are also not specifically worried about the wealthiest 1%, even if they are racial minorities. Their rhetorical concern is for those who are facing true barriers like poverty, poor education, and violent communities. These are some of America’s most serious problems, but the language of marginalization often unnecessarily comes with a victimhood mentality and a lack of agency for those involved. Just because you face serious life obstacles doesn’t make you a “victim”, in the sense that there is nothing you can do about it. Some groups have become so concerned with helping “victims” of incarceration that they forget about the people they are abusing. Equally as misleading are those who talk from their Ivy League perches or luxury houses about these issues, as if they know exactly what it’s like, often without lived or even observational experience to back it up.

I am not writing this from the point of view of lived experience, but from the intellectually obvious standpoint that to be in a “marginalized group” does not inherently make one marginalized. Nor is this the proper way to frame the issue politically. The range of circumstances and experiences in a country as diverse as the United States makes most sweeping proclamations about what things are actually like, indubitably false. Many can go from poverty to wealth, and vice versa. When the retort is, “that almost never happens”, those people are maybe right. But the narrative should be about how to expand opportunities and not just a cataloging of past injustices, with the underlying implication being that progress is overwhelmingly difficult, if not impossible. If one looks at U.S. history from a long term perspective, progress is in fact very possible. 

Yet, the statistics on social mobility have not been great for any race in recent decades. Which implies that there is a lot of economic progress that still needs to be made. Incessant talking about how marginalized people are won’t make it better. A great place to start would be government working to provide better early childhood education and healthcare. There are also private school and private healthcare solutions in these areas too.

But one must realize that different interventions are needed for improving education and job opportunities in Armour Square in the South Side of Chicago versus Beverly Hills in California. (I suppose Beverly Hills can maybe manage on their own for a time.) It can be the inability to look at these two types of places with the harsh glare of reality and understand what are the best solutions. Unfortunately, top down solutions in both education and government cannot solve problems the way many think or hope they do. It doesn’t mean schools and government officials shouldn’t try. It means understanding why interventions such as more money for schools and welfare programs don’t simply break the cycle of poverty. 

An optimistic belief in realistic progress if you work hard, treat other wells, and invest in yourself is the brighter future that parents want for their kids. Where you grow up should not be the predominant factor in whether or not you believe in this type of progress and if you achieve it. The language and arguments around marginalized groups reinforces the belief that progress is for the middle and upper class only. Progress is for everyone, even those who start off with many more disadvantages and obstacles. The U.S. can’t completely eradicate poverty, inequality, or racism. But it can help to make these issues much better. Isn’t that what everyone is working towards?