ethnic and national identity
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Ethnic and National Identity. Theories of development and change. Table of contents. The characteristics of ethnicity What ethnicity is not Immigration and cultural change. Definitions: Little agreement. 27 different definitions (Isajiw, 1974) Many different meanings (Burkey, 1978) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Ethnic and National Identity
Theories of development and change
Table of contents
The characteristics of ethnicity What ethnicity is not Immigration and cultural change
Definitions: Little agreement
27 different definitions (Isajiw, 1974)
Many different meanings (Burkey, 1978) A cultural group An ancestral group A racial group A minority group An immigrant group Any group that wears colorful clothes
People unlike ourselves (Banks & Gay, 1978)
Definitions
Ethnic group: A social collective made up of people who are defined as sharing important cultural, physical, or ancestral attributes (Jaret)
Ethnicity: Properties of either an ethnic group as a whole or of individual members of an ethnic group, including customs, language, religion, and political and economic interests.
Ethnicity is not race
Ethnic groups can be racial sub-categories
Racial groups can be ethnic sub-categories
Racial and ethnic groups are two kinds of groups
From C. Jaret’s Contemporary Racial and Ethnic Relations
Ethnicity is not nationality/state
A nation is a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own (dictionary.com)
A state is a territory of an [independent and autonomous] government (dictionary.com)
Ethnicity is not religion
From 2001 study of U.S. congregations called "Faith Communities Today” by Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religious Research
Central characteristics of ethnicity
Peoplehood Culture Territoriality Ethnocentrism Ascribed membership (Essentialism)
Peoplehood
Refers to a special feeling of attachment to other group members
Can have many origins Shared ancestry Shared sense of victimization Shared aspirations
Can be local or cross-national Fixed or flexible?
Culture
Definitions (again) vary
Basic or core values Human nature (good – neutral – evil) Time (past – present – future) Relationship between people (individualistic – collectivistic)
Institutional behavioral patterns Language Family roles and interaction styles Food Religion Celebrations and traditions Style and appearance
Ethnocentrism
A point of view in which one’s own group is the center of everything.
Tendency to judge other groups by the standards of one’s own group
Opposite of multiculturalism
Has two outcomes in-group cohesiveness out-group antagonism
M K
Essence Question 1
M K
KK
K
KK
K K
Essence Question 2
K
M
K
M
KK
K
KK
K K
Essence Question 3
Ascription
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Q1 Q2 Q3
Half-breedKazax
Mongol
Descent often seen as necessary and sufficient
Sample size = 41 Order of questions
is randomized
Jews African Americans
Ethnic Group?
Jews
Sense of peoplehood Shared culture (e.g., religion, food, holidays, Hebrew/Yiddish language) Shared connection to specific geographic territory (Israel) Have sovereignty (in Israel) Ethnocentrism Essentialism: Jewish law (Halakha) specifies rules of descent
African Americans Sense of peoplehood (complicated)
No: Ancestors from different tribes from different parts of Africa Maybe: Some feel a connection to Africa, or West Africa Yes: History of racialization has created sense of peoplehood
Shared culture (sort of) lots of within-group diversity substantial overlap with mainstream culture (e.g., language)
Shared connection to specific geographic territory (No: most do not want to live in Africa
Have or want sovereignty (No)
How do people reconcile multiple identities?
Are some identities more important than others?
Do some identities have a different meaning than others?
Does the country of residence influence ethnic identity (for members of the same ethnic group)?
Building a Diaspora:Russian Jews in Israel, Germany and the USA
Olaf Glockner (historian)
Eliezer Ben-Rafael (sociologist)
Brill Press
Paul Harris (political scientist)
Are some identities more important?
United States Israel Germany
Nation
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Perc
ent
What are you in the first place: Jewish,
Russian, American?JewishRussianAmerican
United States Israel Germany
Nation
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Perc
ent
What are you in the second place:
Jewish, Russian, American?
JewishRussianAmerican
United States Israel Germany
Nation
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Perc
ent
What are you in the third place: Jewish, Russian, American?
JewishRussianAmerican
American Israeli German
American Israeli German
American Israeli German
What are you in the first place?
What are you in the second place?
What are you in the third place?
The meaning of identity (U.S. data)
share a Jewish culture
belong to the Jewish people
live in Israel believe in the Jewish religion
For me to be Jewish means primarily to:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Perc
ent
share a Russian culture
belong to the Russian people
live in Russia (or former CCCP)
For me to be Russian means primarily to:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Perc
ent
share an American culture
belong to the American people
live in America
For me to be an American means primarily to:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Perc
ent
The meaning of identity: host culture
United States Israel Germany
Nation
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Perc
ent
For me to be an American/Israeli/German
means primarily to:share the culturebelong to the peoplelive in the host countrymultiple response
Feeling part of host culture (peoplehood)
United States Israel Germany
Nation
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Perc
ent
To what extent do you feel an integral part of the American/Israeli/German
people?not at alla littlemoderatelyextremely
Peoplehood as function of time in host country
less than 5 years
5-10 years 10-15 years
15-20 years
over 20 years
Time since migration
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Mea
n To
wha
t ext
ent d
o yo
u fe
el a
n in
tegr
al p
art o
f hos
t cul
ture
's p
eopl
e?
less than 5 years
5-10 years 10-15 years
15-20 years
over 20 years
Time since migration
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Mea
n To
wha
t ext
ent d
o yo
u fe
el a
n in
tegr
al p
art o
f the
Jew
ish
peop
le?
NationUnited StatesIsraelGermany
0=not at all
1=a little
2=moderately
3=extremely
Identification with host culture
United States Israel Germany
Nation
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Perc
ent
When people blame members of host
culture, how offended do you feel?
not at alla littlemoderatelyextremely
How do people reconcile multiple identities?
Are some identities more important than others?
Do some identities have a different meaning than others?
Does the country of residence influence ethnic identity (for members of the same ethnic group)?
Next lecture: Acculturation and cultural acquisition