In recent years, the concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology. This article surveys some of these developments while describing the value added provided by the concept, particularly concerning the study of relational processes. It discusses literatures on (a) social and collective identity; (b) class, ethnic/racial, and gender/sex inequality; (c) professions, knowledge, and science; and (d) communities, national identities, and spatial boundaries. It points to similar processes at work across a range of institutions and social locations. It also suggests paths for further developments, focusing on the relationship between social and symbolic boundaries, cultural mechanisms for the production of boundaries, difference and hybridity, and cultural membership and group classifications.

The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences

▪ Abstract In recent years, the concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology. This article surveys some of these developments while describing the value added provided by the concept, particularly concerning the study of relational processes. It discusses literatures on (a) social and collective identity; (b) class, ethnic/racial, and gender/sex inequality; (c) professions, knowledge, and science; and (d) communities, national identities, and spatial boundaries. It points to similar processes at work across a range of institutions and social locations. It also suggests paths for further developments, focusing on the relationship between social and symbolic boundaries, cultural mechanisms for the production of boundaries, difference and hybridity, and cultural membership and group classifications.

Sociological researchers have studied the consequences of strong categorical boundaries, but have devoted little attention to the causes and consequences of boundary erosion. This study analyzes the erosion of categorical boundaries in the case of opposing category pairs. The authors propose that categorical boundaries weaken when the borrowing of elements from a rival category by high-status actors triggers emulation such that the mean number of elements borrowed by others increases and the variance in the number of elements borrowed declines. It is suggested that penalties to borrowing in the form of downgraded evaluations by critics exist, but decline as the number of peers who borrow increases. The research setting is French gastronomy during the period from 1970 to 1997, when classical and nouvelle cuisines were rival categories competing for the allegiance of chefs. The results broadly support the authors' hypotheses, indicating that chefs redrew the boundaries of culinary categories, which critics ...

Border Crossing: Bricolage and the Erosion of Categorical Boundaries in French Gastronomy

Sociological researchers have studied the consequences of strong categorical boundaries, but have devoted little attention to the causes and consequences of boundary erosion. This study analyzes the erosion of categorical boundaries in the case of opposing category pairs. The authors propose that categorical boundaries weaken when the borrowing of elements from a rival category by high-status actors triggers emulation such that the mean number of elements borrowed by others increases and the variance in the number of elements borrowed declines. It is suggested that penalties to borrowing in the form of downgraded evaluations by critics exist, but decline as the number of peers who borrow increases. The research setting is French gastronomy during the period from 1970 to 1997, when classical and nouvelle cuisines were rival categories competing for the allegiance of chefs. The results broadly support the authors' hypotheses, indicating that chefs redrew the boundaries of culinary categories, which critics eventually recognized. Implications for research on blending and segregating processes are outlined.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate dementia prevalence in older Mexican Americans, determine the distribution of dementia by etiology, and evaluate the contribution of type 2 diabetes mellitus, stroke, and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype to dementia.



DESIGN: Analysis of baseline data from an epidemiological cohort study.



SETTING: Sacramento Valley, California.



PARTICIPANTS: One thousand seven hundred eighty-nine Latinos aged 60 and older residing in targeted census tracts during 1998–99.



MEASUREMENTS: Each subject was interviewed and screened for dementia and cardiovascular risk factors and diseases. Fasting blood samples were drawn for glucose, insulin, and lipids. Buccal cells were obtained for genetic analysis of ApoE. A three-stage process of screening was used to diagnose dementia, including cognitive testing, a clinical examination, and imaging to determine etiology. Presence of dementia was established according to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/Alzheimers and Related Disorders Association criteria and California Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Criteria.



RESULTS: Overall dementia prevalence was 4.8%. Prevalence in those aged 85 and older was 31%. Education and Anglo cultural orientation was negatively associated with dementia risk. Risk of dementia was nearly eight times higher in those with both type 2 diabetes mellitus and stroke. Forty-three percent of dementia was attributable to type 2 diabetes mellitus, stroke, or a combination of the two. ApoE allele frequency was E2 5.9%, E3 90.1%, and E4 4%. Those with any E4 and 4–4 combinations had a higher risk for dementia than those with the E3–3 combination.



CONCLUSIONS: Dementia prevalence in this ethnic group is similar to that reported in Canadian and European studies but lower than in Caribbean-Hispanics residing in the United States. The etiological fraction of dementia attributable to type 2 diabetes mellitus and stroke is substantial and points toward the need for intervention research and treatment with the goal of reducing neurological sequelae in groups with high prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The allele frequency of ApoE was similar to that in other published studies on Mexican Americans. The low frequency of the E4 allele may contribute to the difference in etiology of dementia in older Mexican Americans and older people of European background. Dementia in this ethnic group may be related to preventable causes, with a smaller genetic component than in Europeans.

/pdf/prevalence-of-dementia-in-older-latinos-the-influence-of-4967jck67i.pdf

Prevalence of Dementia in Older Latinos: The Influence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Stroke and Genetic Factors

Migration, Emergent Ethnicity, and the “Third Space”: The Shifting Politics of Nationalism in Greater Mexico

Chicano Workers and the Politics of Fairness: The Fepc in the Southwest, 1941-1945

Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/phr.2010.79.1.145

Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation, and Race. By Edward E. Telles and Vilma Ortiz . (New York, Russel Sage Foundation, 2008. xxvi + 383 pp. $39.95)

The intensity of the recent debate over the presence of an estimated eleven to twelve million unauthorized persons in the United States often creates the impression that the current situation somehow represents a historical anomaly in the long-running debate over US immigration policy and citizenship law. This brief commentary contests that view, suggesting instead that the mass circulation and permanent presence of unauthorized persons has been a normative feature of US economic activity for more than a century and that the exigencies of global economic competition make it likely that this state of affairs will persist into the foreseeable future.

David G. Gutiérrez

Papers

Migration, Emergent Ethnicity, and the “Third Space”: The Shifting Politics of Nationalism in Greater Mexico

Chicano Workers and the Politics of Fairness: The Fepc in the Southwest, 1941-1945

Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California

Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation, and Race. By Edward E. Telles and Vilma Ortiz . (New York, Russel Sage Foundation, 2008. xxvi + 383 pp. $39.95)

The “New Normal”? Reflections on the Shifting Politics of the Immigration Debate