scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

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.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
01 Nov 2004-Africa
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative explanation for the breakdown of Barre's dictatorial regime and the social consequences of political and economic exclusion that followed the state collapse are explored. But, the authors do not consider the role of kinship and clan politics in the maintenance of sustained conflict.
Abstract: Somalia has been without a government for the past thirteen years. After the ousting of Siyaad Barre in 1991 observers were left with the question why a promising, even democratic, society sharing the same ethnicity, one religion, a common language and a predominantly pastoral culture was overtaken by a devastating civil war. Analysts stressed the significance of kinship and clan politics in the maintenance of sustained conflict. They argued that Somalia's state collapse must be placed in a historical context taking into consideration the cultural heritage of Somali society and the legacy of the colonial past. The purpose of the article is twofold: first, it seeks to explore an alternative explanation for the breakdown of Barre's dictatorial regime; and second, to analyse the social consequences of political and economic exclusion that followed the state collapse. The paper argues that Somalia's state failure can be explained by the unjust distribution of new sources of wealth in postcolonial Somalia. This modernisation process was accompanied by violent clashes and continued insecurity. The breakdown of the former regime did not create a representative government. Instead, faction leaders fought for political supremacy at the cost of the lives of thousands of civilians. In the absence of a functioning government that could guarantee security and protection, clan loyalties gained importance. Clan affiliation became a condition of being spared from violence. Unjust distribution of pockets of wealth, such as the high‐potential agricultural land in the riverine areas in southern Somalia, led to localised clashes. It will be argued that horizontal inequalities, or inequalities between groups, are based on both material and imagined differences. Somali faction leaders use these differences instrumentally, to maintain and to exercise power. Irrespective of the existence of invisible and physical markers, it is important to understand what existing social boundaries mean to their participants. A localised clan conflict in Lower Shabelle between the Jido and the Jareer clan families illustrates the consequences of social and economic exclusion. Groups who felt excluded from economic and political life, such as the Jareer, took up arms. Violence became a means of being heard and taken seriously in the current Somali peace talks in Kenya.

35 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...As an ethnic group, they are confined to their constructed social borders (Barth 1969)....

    [...]

  • ...They entail ‘criteria for determining membership and ways of signalling membership and exclusion’ (Barth 1969: 15)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the conditions of ethnic conflict are defined and discussed, in order to understand conflict described as ethnic, we need to uncover the reasons why (in a given conflict situation) there is heightened awareness of ethnic difference.
Abstract: Conflicts that are reported as being between ethnic groups are often described as “ethnic conflicts.” The implication is that such conflicts belong to a general type of ethnic conflict with certain repeated and predictable features. This type of conflict is seen as being motivated by ethnic sentiments, as being grounded in deeply set hatreds, and as being virtually inescapable. By applying the epithet “ethnic,” it is as if the conflict were already explained. However, there are many reasons to be suspicious of these implications. Ethnic groups presently embroiled in fierce conflict may have been, at a previous point in time, peacefully co-existent. Frequently, the very lines of ethnic difference become blurred through intermarriage and cultural change. Therefore, in order to understand conflict described as “ethnic” we need to uncover the reasons why (in a given conflict situation) there is heightened awareness of ethnic difference. Then we need to explain what I have termed “the conditions of ethnicity,”...

35 citations


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

  • ...…difference only persists as an element of symbolic ethnicity, masking a high degree of de-ethnicization (Gans 1979; Waters 1990) Even where cultural difference is “real,” the Barthian paradigm (Barth 1969) diminishes the importance of culture difference in the maintenance of ethnic boundaries....

    [...]

  • ...In a crucial passage Barth writes: “The critical focus of investigation . . . becomes the ethnic boundary that defines the group, not the cultural stuff which it encloses” (Barth 1969: 15)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that negative attitudes are most prevalent with respect to members of the Travelling community, while the potential positive impact of school-level programmes, such as those related to global justice and inequalities, is identified through the lower levels of negative attitud...
Abstract: The changing ethnic make-up of Irish society has impacted upon schools. Existing, largely qualitative studies have highlighted mixed attitudes towards ethnic minorities. Literature has also focused on the role of the state in articulating a discourse that shapes school-level responses to minorities. This paper critiques the idea of a unitary state discourse and the role of other educational bodies, such as schools, in drawing upon a range of alternate public discourses to shape how they act, is identified. Drawing upon a large quantitative study involving 4970 post-primary pupil respondents, this paper finds that many Irish post-primary students report low levels of social distance from Black African Immigrants, Muslims and Eastern Europeans. Negative attitudes are most prevalent with respect to members of the Travelling community. The potential positive impact of school-level programmes – such as those related to global justice and inequalities – is identified through the lower levels of negative attitud...

35 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper argued that language diversity functions to limit communication between people who cannot freely trust one another or where even truthful communications from others would result in maladaptive behavior on the part of listeners.
Abstract: Human language has no close parallels in other systems of animal communication. Yet it is an important part of the cultural adaptation that serves to make humans an exceedingly successful species. In the past 20 years, a diverse set of evolutionary scholars have tried to answer the question of how language evolved in our species and why it is unique to us. They have converged on the idea that the cultural and innate aspects of language were tightly linked in a process of gene-culture coevolution. They differ widely about the details of the process, particularly over the division of labor between genes and culture in the coevolutionary process. Why is language restricted to humans given that communication seems to be so useful? A plausible answer is that language is part of human cooperation. Why did the coevolutionary process come to rest leaving impressive cultural diversity in human languages? A plausible answer is that language diversity functions to limit communication between people who cannot freely trust one another or where even truthful communications from others would result in maladaptive behavior on the part of listeners.

35 citations