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 argue that linkage to global civil society gives rise to ethnic mobilization because it diffuses models of claim-making based on human rights ideas, while intergovernmental networks suppress ethnic mobilization as they enhance state power and authority.
Abstract: Studies on ethnic movements have largely overlooked the global dimensions of ethnic social movements. Drawing on social movement theories and the world culture approach, I argue that linkage to global civil society gives rise to ethnic mobilization because it diffuses models of claim-making based on human rights ideas, while intergovernmental networks suppress ethnic mobilization as they enhance state power and authority. Tobit analyses on violent and nonviolent ethnic mobilizations show that, controlling for domestic factors, linkage to global civil society raises the potential for ethnic social movements, while intergovernmental networks do not have a strong impact on ethnic mobilization.
67 citations
TL;DR: The narrative study of identity promotes the idea that people develop social identities by telling stories about themselves and others as mentioned in this paper, and through these stories, people associate with desired groups a a...
Abstract: The narrative study of identity promotes the idea that people develop social identities by telling stories about themselves and others. Through these stories, people associate with desired groups a...
67 citations
Cites background from "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The S..."
...Setting up differences among people can be done by developing symbolic boundaries separating types of people (Barth, 1969)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the potential of these rights for resisting socio-environmental injustice in Amazonian indigenous communities, oil companies, and the state in the Cofan Dureno case.
Abstract: Ecuador’s recently adopted conflict resolution techniques have aggravated the always tense encounters between Amazonian indigenous communities, oil companies and the state. The state’s governmentality project portrays these socio-environmental conflicts as mere technical–managerial issues while societal coalitions re-politicize them through territorial defense struggles. The Cofan Dureno case highlights how the self-proclaimed ‘Citizen’s Revolution’ government seeks to redefine socio-natural relationships and territorial identities, devising ‘communities of convenience’. These correspond to the state’s own images, political structure and ideology, promoting ‘community participation’ to facilitate oil extraction. Ecuador’s constitutionally recognized Rights of Nature (paradoxically installed by the same government) are analyzed with a focus on their potential for resisting socio-environmental injustice. The internationally celebrated inclusion of these rights in the Constitution was advocated by no...
67 citations
Cites background from "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The S..."
...These ontologies and identities are both cultural-historical and strategic-political (Barth 1969, Cohen 1974)....
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TL;DR: The authors examines the linguistic anxiety displayed by the Mongols and their controversial language revitalization efforts in a social environment in which they have become an absolute minority even while they have formal autonomy under their name.
Abstract: Language is one of the official criteria of defining a nationality in socialist China, but it simultaneously has been subjected to an "ideology of contempt" by the Chinese regime that builds nationality only to destroy it. This article examines the linguistic anxiety displayed by the Mongols and their controversial language revitalization efforts in a social environment in which they have become an absolute minority even while they have formal autonomy under their name. The tremendous cost—both emotional and economic—at which such language maintenance comes suggests that nationality in China may not be understood as primarily cultural but, instead, as political. As more Mongols lose their language, arguably the last bastion of their "nationality" status, they face the prospect of becoming a deinstitutionalized, depoliticized, and deterritorialized "ethnic group" in a racialized "Chinese Nation." [Keywords: language, nationality, ethnic group, Mongols, Chinese National Multiculturalism]
67 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses the relevance of the mixed embeddedness hypothesis to explaining immigrant entrepreneurship in a specific host setting with reference to research that spans a number of economic periods and includes both genders and generations.
Abstract: Kloosterman, van der Leun and Rath assert they conceptualised the “mixed embeddedness” hypothesis to overcome the shortcomings characteristic of earlier theoretical models of immigrant business enterprise. This article assesses the relevance of this theoretical perspective to explaining immigrant entrepreneurship in a specific host setting with reference to research that spans a number of economic periods and includes both genders and a number of generations. It is argued that, while the “mixed embeddedness” explanation gives a more comprehensive explanation than previous models, it nonetheless fails to explain the wide‐ranging inter‐ethnic variation in entrepreneurial concentration observed among immigrant groups around the world. It contends that the reasons for this are the model’s lack of historical perspective and focus on the lower end of the market. It also demonstrates how the study of immigrant enterprise is advanced by incorporating the agency of individuals into the explanatory process.
67 citations