Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 523-545 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Ethnicities |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |
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Conceptualizing Cultural Groups and Cultural Difference : The Social Mechanism-Approach. / Pierik, R.H.M.
In: Ethnicities, Vol. 4, No. 4, 2004, p. 523-545.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Conceptualizing Cultural Groups and Cultural Difference
T2 - The Social Mechanism-Approach
AU - Pierik, R.H.M.
N1 - Pagination: 22
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - The aim of this article is to present a conceptualization of cultural groups and cultural difference that provides a middle course between the Scylla of essentialism and the Charybdis of reductionism. The method I employ is the social mechanism approach. I argue that cultural groups and cultural difference should be understood as the result of cognitive and social processes of categorization. I describe two such processes in particular: categorization by others and selfcategorization. Categorization by others is caused by processes of ascription: the attribution by outsiders of certain characteristics, beliefs, and practices to individuals who share a specific attribute. Self-categorization is caused by processes of inscription and community-building: the adoption of certain beliefs and practices as a result of socialization and enculturation. I therefore shift the focus from groups to categories, and from categories to processes of categorization. I show that this analytical distinction between categorization by others and self-categorization can clarify an ambiguity in dominant debates in contemporary multiculturalism. I conclude by indicating how injustices, commonly associated with multiculturalism, can better be understood as socially generated injustices, and how government should deal with these injustices.
AB - The aim of this article is to present a conceptualization of cultural groups and cultural difference that provides a middle course between the Scylla of essentialism and the Charybdis of reductionism. The method I employ is the social mechanism approach. I argue that cultural groups and cultural difference should be understood as the result of cognitive and social processes of categorization. I describe two such processes in particular: categorization by others and selfcategorization. Categorization by others is caused by processes of ascription: the attribution by outsiders of certain characteristics, beliefs, and practices to individuals who share a specific attribute. Self-categorization is caused by processes of inscription and community-building: the adoption of certain beliefs and practices as a result of socialization and enculturation. I therefore shift the focus from groups to categories, and from categories to processes of categorization. I show that this analytical distinction between categorization by others and self-categorization can clarify an ambiguity in dominant debates in contemporary multiculturalism. I conclude by indicating how injustices, commonly associated with multiculturalism, can better be understood as socially generated injustices, and how government should deal with these injustices.
M3 - Article
VL - 4
SP - 523
EP - 545
JO - Ethnicities
JF - Ethnicities
SN - 1468-7968
IS - 4
ER -