Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference
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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TL;DR: The authors discuss methodological nationalism as a bias that has come into being on grounds of the tendency of social sciences, including sociolinguistics and linguistics, to assume national societies to be the "normal" and natural way of human beings creating belonging.
44 citations
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01 Jan 2018TL;DR: The authors proposed associative diffusion, where the things being transmitted between individuals are perceptions about what beliefs or behaviors are compatible with one another, rather than beliefs or behaviours per-se, and demonstrated that the endogenous emergence of cultural differentiation can be entirely attributable to social cognition and does not require a clustered social network or a preexisting division into groups.
Abstract: Network models of diffusion predominantly think about cultural variation as a product of social contagion. But culture does not spread like a virus. In this paper, we propose an alternative explanation which we refer to as associative diffusion. Drawing on two insights from research in cognition--that meaning inheres in cognitive associations between concepts, and that such perceived associations constrain people's actions--we propose a model wherein, rather than beliefs or behaviors per-se, the things being transmitted between individuals are perceptions about what beliefs or behaviors are compatible with one another. Conventional contagion models require an assumption of network segregation to explain cultural variation. In contrast, we demonstrate that the endogenous emergence of cultural differentiation can be entirely attributable to social cognition and does not necessitate a clustered social network or a preexisting division into groups. Moreover, we show that prevailing assumptions about the effects of network topology do not hold when diffusion is associative.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on how the misinterpretation of this two-way relationship, in setting up a new normative framework, can generate unintended consequences in terms of conflict, and how changes in the allocation of strategic resources inspired by the so-called "politics of recognition" triggered processes of political ethnicization and organizational fragmentation, eventually contributing to fuelling new tensions between indigenous groups and peasant unions.
Abstract: Agrarian reforms do not constitute linear processes: rather, they are based on the interconnection between the crystallization of land governance in formal tenure rules and the way societies organize around a set of identities and power mechanisms. This paper focuses on how the misinterpretation of this two-way relationship, in setting up a new normative framework, can generate unintended consequences in terms of conflict. The recent wave of land conflicts in Bolivia shows how changes in the allocation of strategic resources inspired by the so-called ‘politics of recognition’ triggered processes of political ethnicization and organizational fragmentation, eventually contributing to fuelling new tensions between indigenous groups and peasant unions.
44 citations
TL;DR: The authors decrit les institutions societales chez deux groupes ethniques du Sud-Ouest de la Tanzanie, les Pimbwe et les Sukuma, a l'aide du ultimatum jeu.
Abstract: Cet article decrit les institutions societales chez deux groupes ethniques du Sud-Ouest de la Tanzanie, les Pimbwe et les Sukuma, a l'aide du ultimatum jeu
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at how Malaysia's political institutions and policies have constrained Chinese acculturation with the dominant Malay population, and how these political institutions, and not just the coercive apparatus of the state, coupled with the way the Constitution defines a person as 'Malay', effectively maintain a distinct boundary between who is Malay and who is Chinese or Indian.
Abstract: This work looks at how Malaysia's political institutions and policies have constrained Chinese acculturation with the dominant Malay population. Particular attention is paid to the nature of electoral institutions; such as the ethnic party structure, the apportionment of electoral districts, and the debate over Malaysia's education system. These political institutions, and not just the coercive apparatus of the state, coupled with the way the Constitution defines a person as 'Malay', effectively maintain a distinct boundary between who is Malay and who is Chinese or Indian. Ethnic categorization in Malaysia has, in the past, masked equally wide divisions between classes. More recent efforts at creating a 'Malaysian' national identity may clash with a political structure still largely organized by ethnicity, and may bring these other fissures to the forefront. Chinese in Malaysia have long been a dynamic economic force, and since they make up close to 30% of the population, they have long been perceived as a political threat to the indigenous Malays. The Malay peninsula has always been ethnically mixed, with indigenous and Malay inhabitants. Chinese and Indian immigrants began coming to the area in large numbers in the first quarter of the nineteenth century and after the Second World War strong identities emerged as people begin to think of themselves not just in relation to the colonial rulers but as Malay, Chinese, or Indian. Ethnic fea
44 citations