Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference

doi:10.2307/588416

Journal Article•DOI•

Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference

01 Jun 1970-British Journal of Sociology-Vol. 21, Iss: 2, pp 231

About: This article is published in British Journal of Sociology.The article was published on 1970-06-01. It has received 4205 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Social organization & Ethnic group.

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The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences

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Michèle Lamont¹, Virág Molnár²•Institutions (2)

Harvard University¹, Princeton University²

01 Jan 2002-Social Science Research Network

TL;DR: 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, particularly concerning the study of relational processes as mentioned in this paper.

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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.

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3,190 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences

[...]

Michèle Lamont and, Virág Molnár

01 Aug 2002-Review of Sociology

TL;DR: The concept of boundaries has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology as mentioned in this paper, particularly concerning the study of relational processes.

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Abstract: ▪ 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.

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2,606 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Rethinking racism: toward a structural interpretation *

[...]

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva¹•Institutions (1)

University of Michigan¹

01 Jun 1997-American Sociological Review

TL;DR: In this paper, a structural theory of racism based on the notion of racialized social systems is proposed, which is based on Fanon's notion of racism as a mental quirk.

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Abstract: The study of race and ethnic conflict historically has been hampered by inadequate and simplistic theories. I contend that the central problem of the various approaches to the study of racial phenomena is their lack of a structural theory of racism. I review traditional approaches and alternative approaches to the study of racism, and discuss their limitations. Following the leads suggested by some of the alternative frameworks, I advance a structural theory of racism based on the notion of racialized social systems. "The habit of considering racism as a mental quirk, as a psychological flaw, must be abandoned." -Frantz Fanon (1967:77) he area of race and ethnic studies lacks a _ sound theoretical apparatus. To complicate matters, many analysts of racial matters have abandoned the serious theorization and reconceptualization of their central topic: racism. Too many social analysts researching racism assume that the phenomenon is selfevident, and therefore either do not provide a definition or provide an elementary definition (Schuman, Steeh, and Bobo 1985; Sniderman and Piazza 1993). Nevertheless, whether implicitly or explicitly, most analysts regard racism as a purely ideological phenomenon.

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1,873 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Institutional conditions for diffusion

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David Strang¹, David Strang², John W. Meyer¹, John W. Meyer²•Institutions (2)

Stanford University¹, Cornell University²

01 Aug 1993-Theory and Society

1,788 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The Making and Unmaking of Ethnic Boundaries: A Multilevel Process Theory 1

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Andreas Wimmer

01 Jan 2008-American Journal of Sociology

TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce a multilevel process theory to understand how these characteristics are generated and transformed over time, assuming that ethnic boundaries are the outcome of the classificatory struggles and negotiations between actors situated in a social field.

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Abstract: Primordialist and constructivist authors have debated the nature of ethnicity “as such” and therefore failed to explain why its characteristics vary so dramatically across cases, displaying different degrees of social closure, political salience, cultural distinctiveness, and historical stability. The author introduces a multilevel process theory to understand how these characteristics are generated and transformed over time. The theory assumes that ethnic boundaries are the outcome of the classificatory struggles and negotiations between actors situated in a social field. Three characteristics of a field—the institutional order, distribution of power, and political networks—determine which actors will adopt which strategy of ethnic boundary making. The author then discusses the conditions under which these negotiations will lead to a shared understanding of the location and meaning of boundaries. The nature of this consensus explains the particular characteristics of an ethnic boundary. A final section i...

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982 citations

Cites background from "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The S..."

...The genealogy of this boundary and groupmaking approach leads from Weber to Fredrik Barth (1969a), Michèle Lamont (2000), Mara Loveman (1997), Richard Alba (2005), Charles Tilly (2006), and other contemporary writers....
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...For helpful comments and challenging critiques, I should like to thank Klaus Bade, Fredrik Barth, Michael Bommes, John Breuilly, Rogers Brubaker, Marian Cadogan, Hartmut Esser, Jon Fox, Matteo Fumigalli, Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Philip Gorski, Wesley Hiers, John Hutchinson, Eric Kaufmann, Matthias König, Sinisa Malesevic, Tariq Modood, of ethnographic case studies....
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...Beyond Constructivism The comparative study of ethnicity rests firmly on the ground established by Fredrik Barth (1969b) in his well-known introduction to a collection 1 Various versions of this article were presented at UCLA’s Department of Sociology, the Institute for Migration Research and…...
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...Beyond Constructivism The comparative study of ethnicity rests firmly on the ground established by Fredrik Barth (1969b) in his well-known introduction to a collection 1 Various versions of this article were presented at UCLA’s Department of Sociology, the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies of the University of Osnabrück, Harvard’s Center for European Studies, the Center for Comparative Research of Yale University, the Association for the Study of Ethnicity at the London School of Economics, the Center for Ethnicity and Citizenship of the University of Bristol, the Department of Political Science and International Relations of University College Dublin, and the Department of Sociology of the University of Göttingen....
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...…Differentiation Contrary to Barth’s famed dictum that it is the boundary that matters in ethnic relations and not the “cultural stuff” they enclose (Barth 1969b, p. 15), a number of authors, including Barth (1994) himself some 30 years later, have noted that this stuff may indeed make a…...
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Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference

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