Ethnicity Flashcards
Macro conditions
- Migration
- Economic restructuring
- Political integration and reconfiguration
- Technological innovation
Migration
Awareness of difference, volume, frequency and distance of trans-border migration and ethnic pluralism.
Economic restructuring
Degree to which labour markets are becoming segmented by ethnic groups. (Ethnicity intercepts with social class)
Instrumentalist view of ethnicity
Ethnicity is used as a tool by people to achieve their goals. Often links ethnic identity to type of employment.
Political integration and reconfiguration
- Recognition of non-state actors
- International and regional organizations (EU, UN)
- Ex: Catalonia
Technological Innovation
Technology enables transnational ties among ethnic groups and maintains ethnic identities, unites ethnic groups but can also ignite thence tensions.
Ethnic resurgence puzzling for 2 reasons
- Sociological Paradox: Ethnic groups appear to be rapidly losing their cultural distinctiveness while also emphasizing and exaggerating their cultural identity and exclusiveness
- The fact that ethnicity continues to hold power and appeal is puzzling in that it defies predominant theories and intellectual frameworks that long ago predicted ethnicity’s demise (Marxism and Liberalism)
primordialism
Conceptualizes ethnicity as a deeply felt emotional attachment to ancestral ties
Instrumentalism
Ethnicity as the result of rational calculation in pursuit of political or economic gain
Ethnicity
Subjective belief in common descent
Ethnic Group
Necessitates some degree of self consciousness
Ethnic category
A label that is frequently applied to people or a series into which people are placed by the state, media or other institutions
Constructed primordialism
Ethnicity is constantly being reinvented in response to changing realities both within the group and the host society
Rwanda
Hutu and Tutsi ethic groups created by Belgian colonizers based o physical characteristics (skin colour, nose shape)
