A Comparative Historical Study of Minorities, and their Persecution's Discrimination, Liberation in the Western World

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Today's social history necessitates new methods of inquiry and new agenda as well as new sources. The problems of minority are typical of such cases where new historical questions are being created and answered. Our primary objective of this comparative project was to compare and contrast the minority problems in the history of the West. We also hoped that we might present some broad generalizations or new historical methods. It would be fair to say, however, that we have been successful in accumulating concrete data and findings on individual cases, but during the course of our three-year project, we did not reach the stage where we could present some grand synthesis. What follows is a summary of our research findings:(1) Minority groups manifest a great variety of cultural forms and social organizations vis-a-vis the majority or the host society. Such dissimilarity seems to underlie the methodological difficulty of a single approach. Our reports demonstrate the diversity in such case … More s as: ancient Greek polis, medieval Christian community, Greek Orthodox Church, Protestant Churches, modern nation states, and contemporary industrial states.(2) The nature of minority "problems" changes dramatically with the formation of modern nation states. Modern nations states seek uniformity and homogeneity of human existence, as evidenced in such areas as politics, economy, language, culture, philosophy, consciousness, and mentality. Non-conformers and deviants necessarily excluded or rendered objects of forced assimilation. Such modern ideals as reason, universality, freedom, equality, and human rights are essentially parts of the ideology of the uniform, modern society. Thus, the modern minority problems are much more intense and rigidly rooted in the social systems than in the pre-modern society.(3) In spite of their difficulties, and in part because of the harsh conditions, minority peoples created their own identities, replete with original cosmologies, theology, and worldviews. It is our common understanding that much further research is needed to analyze the process of identity formation in various historical and social settings. Less