Social relationships and Innovations Between Bantu Majorities and Pygmy Minorities in the Southern Cameroonian Forest

Contrary to popular belief, the Pygmies are an "active minority" in the sense of Moscovici (1979) [22]. But, paradoxically, confronted to hegemonic Bantu majorities, the innovations they drive are very recessive. Of the reasons given, the most controversial is the precariousness of the Bantu/Pygmy relationships. The hypothesis to be tested is then that the visibility of innovations resulting from the negotiation of the con?ict between Bantus and Pygmies depends on the quality of the social relationship they maintain. This was operationalized in 4 research hypotheses all con?rmed by the Chi-square test of empirical data collected through questionnaire from a representative sample of 120 bucolic Bantus from the districts of Djoum, Oveng and Mintom II. This result led us to conclude that the social relationship is a determining variable in the negotiation of the social con?ict between a majority and a minority socio culturally different: the more mutually satisfying it is, the less is the pressure to conformity, and the more innovations are visible, vice versa.