Harvard Government 20 Week 8 Handout 1

Government 20: Week 8, Lecture 1: The Politics of Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict I. Definitions A. Ethnic Groups: rooted in belief in shared ancestry group, based on ascriptive traits (e.g., race, language, religion, region) B. Nation and Nationalism II. Four Levels of Ethnic Salience A. Objective Difference B. Cultural Pluralism C. Politicized Ethnicity D. Ethnic Violence III. Theories of Ethnicity A. Classical Theories: a. Modernization/Melting Pot Theories: ethnic identities as “traditional;” expected to disappear with modernization b. Marxism: ethnicity as “false consciousness” c. Problem: ethnicity didn’t disappear; seen in ex-Soviet Union, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, USA B. Three Contemporary Approaches a. Primordialism i. Ethnicity as fixed, historically given: either inherent or deeply rooted in societies; ethnic identities trump other (class, ideological) identities when push comes to shove ii. Implications: ethnic identities (and conflict) always lurking beneath the surface in plural societies iii. Problem: many seemingly “deeply rooted” ethnic identities are fluid, changing, and even newly created b. Instrumentalism i. Ethnicity as an individual strategic choice—a means to other (political or economic) ends ii. Implications: ethnicity similar to other group memberships; ethnic conflict “really” about power/money but dressed in ethnic clothing iii. Problem: ethnic identities more stable (and less clearly linked to economic and political interests) than instrumentalist theories predict c. Constructivism i. Ethnicity as neither fixed nor individually chosen, but rather socially constructed -- a product of social, political, and institutional context ii. Implications: Ethnic identities change, but usually slowly, over several generations iii. Problem: less generalizability or predictive power (we can only tell that identities have been constructed after the fact) Key Terms Ethnic group Nation and nationalism Cultural pluralism