Carter, Bob, 1948- and Fenton, Steve, 1942-. (2010) Not thinking ethnicity : a critique of the ethnicity paradigm in an over-ethnicised sociology. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Vol.40 (No.1). pp. 1-18. ISSN 0021-8308

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Abstract

The many critical approaches to an 'ethnicity framework' have fallen short of a very possible conclusion-that the language of ethnicity provides, for the most part, a poor paradigm with which to work. In the present paper we seek not only to re-state some key weaknesses of this paradigm but also to suggest that these weaknesses are more general in an over-ethnicised sociology. There are numerous critiques of particular models or elements of ethnicity thinking, including critiques of primordialist approaches (Fenton 2003), of multiculturalism ( 2000), and of the over-objectification of groups (Brubaker 2004; see also Jenkins 2008). The major critiques constitute a strong case against 'thinking with ethnicity'; the broader weaknesses are more general in contemporary 'identitarian' sociology. From this position we turn to the question of offering an alternative approach in a sociology which emphasizes agency, and is grounded in an analysis of actors in material situations. This is allied to the concept of ideational resources, social categories and identities upon which actors draw, and a middle-range view of causality and tendency in social change. Ideas of ancestral belonging are among those ideational resources, and these ideas and assumptions are played out in a context of material and political change. The subject of study is not ethnicity, but power, resources, social relations and institutions (which may and may not be) informed by cultural identities and ideas of ancestry. The strategy of the paper will be first to re-state the deficiencies of 'ethnicity thinking' and second to offer an alternative framework for thinking about social action and social structure.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Ethnicity, Ethnic conflict, Identity politics, Social structure
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc
ISSN:	0021-8308
Date:	March 2010
Volume:	Vol.40
Number:	No.1
Number of Pages:	19
Page Range:	pp. 1-18
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1468-5914.2009.00420.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/6420

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