Answer to Question #320531 in Political Science for Lelo

Question

Ethnic theory of the state

Answer 1

There are four main theoretical approaches that underpin the study of ethnicity. These are primordialism, instrumentalism, materialism and constructionism.

Ethnicity has become prominent in popular and scholarly thinking over the last 50 years. In the late 1960s a few key works stimulated the growth of a complex body of literature, now defined by four main theoretical approaches. New insights are also emerging. Chief among these is the importance of integrating intersectionality into ethnicity theory. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has also made important contributions to this literature and its application to development studies.

The primordialist approach to ethnicity

Up until the 1970s, and in some cases even later, primordialist accounts of ethnicity were common. Classic primordialist accounts generally view ethnic identity as innate, fixed and permanent. They claim each individual is born into an ethnic group or 'tribe' the term commonly used up until the 1970s perceived as a culturally defined unit. This led to tribes and later ethnic groups being classified by aspects of their material culture in addition to biological and territorial features. Primordialist accounts imply that ethnic identity serves a fundamental human need for belonging and meaning. The primordial approach also suggests in what is more commonly known as the 'ancient hatreds' argument that the fundamental cultural differences and divergent values between ethnic groups inevitably results in a 'clash of cultures' and the emergence of ethnic violence.

The instrumentalist approach to ethnicity

Two main contributions initiated the challenge to the classic primordialist approach. In his 1969 seminal essay, Barth (1998) challenged the primordialist belief that ethnic groups were distinct bounded units with innate cultural characteristics. Rather than focusing on the cultural 'content' of ethnic groups he adopted a subjectivist standpoint, suggesting that individuals selectively emphasise those forms of cultural differentiation that are important to them. He contends that the maintenance of ethnic boundaries occurs through interaction of 'us' and 'them' across a group boundary.

The materialist approach to ethnicity

Materialist approaches to ethnicity are relatively underdeveloped in the literature. 'Crude' Marxist theories, including the work of Michael Hechter (1978), view ethnicity as an epiphenomenon, or a result, of class relations. These crude Marxist theories also suggest that violence between ethnically aligned groups is the result of economic inequalities and elite exploitation.

The constructionist approach to ethnicity

At the heart of the constructionist approach, as with its instrumentalist predecessor, is the belief that ethnicity is socially constructed. However, unlike the earlier instrumentalist conception, ethnicity is 'constructed', and done so continuously through social interaction, by both elites and ordinary people. The constructionist approach initiated a shift of focus in the literature, from what ethnicity is to how it is constructed. Constructionist theory can largely be divided into three subsets of literature based upon the manner in which the construction of ethnicity is characterised. They are differentiated based upon whether individuals, discursive formations or broad structural forces are the chief agent in the construction of ethnicity.