The Ethnic Phenomenon / Edition 1

by Pierre Van Den Berghe

Overview

Van den Berghe contends that intergroup relations are reducible to individuals competing for scarce resources. While social classes are grouped according to common material interests, ethnic groups are organized by real or punitive common descent—ultimately on the basis of common interests. The author argues that ethnic nepotism is, at its very foundation, biological. This new approach is expanded further, taking into account how ethnicity is responsive to a wide spectrum of environmental factors. He analytically relates his own ideological biases to the substance of his work. What results is an intensely personal book of monumental scope and admirable intellectual honesty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275927097
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/19/1987
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

PIERRE L. VAN DEN BERGHE is the recipient of the Spivak Award from the American Sociological Association for sustained scholarly contributions throughout his career.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Theories and Ideologies of Ethnic Relations
An Explanatory Framework
Ethnicity as Kin Selection: The Biology of Nepotism
Ethnicity and Resource Competition: The Ecology of Territoriality and Specialization
Ethnicity and Coercion: The Politics of Hierarchy
Some Recurrent Situations
Colonial Empires
Slavery
Middleman Minorities
Caste
Consociationalism
Assimilation
The Formation, Persistence and Demise of Ethnicity
Ethnicity and Other Bases of Sociality
The Dynamics of Ethnicity
Bibliography
Index