"A welcome and brilliantly crafted overview of this field. It represents a major advance in our understanding of how ethnicity works in specific social and cultural contexts. The second edition will be an invaluable resource for both students and researchers alike."
- John Solomos, City University, London
The first edition of Rethinking Ethnicity quickly established itself as a popular text for students of ethnicity and ethnic relations. This fully revised and updated second edition adds new material on globalization and the recent debates about whether ethnicity matters and ethnic groups actually exist.
While ethnicity - as a social construct - is imagined, its effects are far from imaginary. Jenkins draws on specific examples to demonstrate the social mechanisms that construct ethnicity and the consequences for people's experience.
Drawing upon rich case study material, the book discusses such issues as: the 'myth' of the plural society; postmodern notions of difference; the relationship between ethnicity, 'race' and nationalism; ideology; language; violence and religion; and the everyday construction of national identity.
PART ONE: ARGUMENTS
Chapter 1: Anthropology and Ethnicity
Locating Social Anthropology
Locating Ethnicity
Chapter 2: From Tribes to Ethnic Groups
Groups and Boundaries Revisited
Chapter 3: Myths of Pluralism
South and West Wales as a Case in Point
Modernity and Globalization
Chapter 4: Ethnicity Etcetera
The Communal, the Local, the National, the Global
Culture and Biology
Redrawing the Boundaries
Chapter 5: Categorisation and Power
Groups and Categories
Social Categorization
Contexts of Ethnic Categorization
Categorization and Power
Chapter 6: Ideologies of Identification
Group Identification and Social Categorization (again)
Ethnicity and 'Race'
Ideologies of Identification
PART TWO: EXPLORATIONS
Chapter 7: Majority Ethnicity
The Foundations of Modern Ulster Ethnicity: The Plantation
The Consolidation of Ethnic Domination: The Industrial Revolution
Organized Labour and the Manipulation of Ethnicity
Culture and Economic Advantage?
Chapter 8: The 'Cultural Stuff'
Varieties of Religious Conflict
Religious Differences and Conflict in Northern Ireland
Ethnicity, Politics and Religion
Chapter 9: Violence, Language and Politics
Northern Ireland and Wales
The Violence of Politics
The Politics of Language
Some Explanatory Options
Chapter 10: Nation and Nationalisms
Ethnicity and Nationalism
Nationalism in Three Countries
Wales
Northern Ireland
Denmark
Identity, Ideology and the Everyday
Rethinking Ethnicity
