Studying Ethnic Identification. Tools and Theories

Abstract

As integration theories shape the lens of many scholars and politicians, this theoretical chapter begins with a brief description of the straight-line assimilation model and segmented assimilation theory. However, as the frame of ‘integration’ and ‘assimilation’ is too narrow to capture the experiences of minority climbers, the focus shifts to literature on ‘ethnic options’, which is better-suited to understanding the individual level. In addition, Bourdieu concepts (such as habitus, field, and symbolic capital) enable us to describe the relation between agency and structure, negotiation of belonging, and the contextual and temporal aspects of individuals’ experiences. Although this study departs from a constructivist perspective, upholding such a perspective in an empirical study is complicated due to the trap of essentialism, on the one hand, and the trap of ambiguity on the other. To avoid these traps, an analytical toolkit is assembled, consisting of five tools: (1) focus on practices; (2) separation of self-identification and external identification; (3) distinction between category and group, the latter implying some level of ‘groupism’; (4) distinction between label and content, which refers to sociocultural practices; (5) and intersectionality. The last section of this chapter critically reflects on the use of common terms such as integration.