Personalized Neural Networks Underlie Individual Differences in Ethnic Identity Exploration and Resolution

This study examined how ethnic identity relates to large-scale brain networks implicated in social interactions, social cognition, self-definition, and cognitive control. Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation (GIMME) was used to create sparse, person-specific networks among the default mode and frontoparietal resting-state networks in a diverse sample of 104 youths aged 17–21. Links between neural density (i.e., number of connections within and between these networks) and ethnic identity exploration and resolution were evaluated in the full sample. Ethnic identity resolution was positively related to frontoparietal network density, suggesting that having clarity about one’s ethnic group membership is associated with brain network organization reflecting cognitive control. These findings help fill a critical knowledge gap about the neural underpinnings of ethnic identity.     

Cultural Identity and Acculturation Preferences Among South Asian Adolescents in Britain: An Exploratory Study

The study reported in this article is part of a wider research project on the adaptation of South Asians in Britain. It examines and compares the acculturation attitudes and cultural identity of Indian and Pakistani second‐generation adolescents Indian (Punjabi Sikh and Gujarati Hindu) and Pakistani (Muslim) in Britain. The research project integrates a social psychological approach to ethnic identity, Berry’s (Cross‐cultural Perspectives. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1990) acculturation strategy and stress models, and Phinney’s (Journal of Early Adolescence, 9 , 1989:34) model of ethnic identification. There were 240 adolescents, aged 13–18 years, with an even split between the genders. Results from this study suggested that the majority of Indian youth adopted integration strategies as opposed to Pakistani Muslims who adopted a separation strategy. Cultural identity is a term used to include both ethnic and national identities. Ethnic identity scores were high for Indian and Pakistani adolescents. National identity was more important for Indian adolescents but ethnic identity was more important than national identity for all groups. Perceived discrimination was related to acculturation strategies.     

Islam and Processes of Minorisation among Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia: Oscillating between Faith and Political Economic Expediency

The main focus of studies on ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia is generally their business acumen or the extent to which they are assimilated into their respective country of residence. This paper concentrates on a rather different aspect among this ethnic group, namely the influence of Islam amongst the Chinese, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. This is a topic on which very little research has been done, especially in terms of identity and ethnicity together with processes of integration and assimilation—in relation to both other ethnic Chinese and the local communities in which they are socially imbedded. Because of the deficiency of empirical data, it is imperative that we understand the historical processes that lead up to the present marginalised position of this group of Chinese. As a consequence, the present paper employs a historical approach towards the study of the Chinese Muslims in their respective local communities.     

Competing Identities? Race,Ethnicity and Panethnicity Among Dominicans in the United States

In this paper we explore the racial and ethnic self-identification of Dominican immigrants in the United States. This issue is central in understanding how immigrants experience the process of incorporation into American society. We argue that as Dominican immigrants incorporate to American life, they adopt a Hispanic or Latino identity. This identity serves both as a form of racial identification within the American racial stratification system and as a form of assertive panethnic identity. This identity, however, does not supersede national identification, which remains the anchoring identity.     

Ethnic conflict without ethnic groups: a study in pure sociology1

Despite growing awareness of the limitations of group‐level analyses in ethnic studies, research on ethnic conflict has paid virtually no systematic attention to variation at the individual or micro level. Addressing that gap, the present paper draws upon data from interviews conducted with members of two broadly‐defined categories recently arrived in the Republic of Ireland, Muslims and Nigerians. Results indicate that while members of both immigrant categories experience a good deal of ethnic conflict or hostility, such conflict is rarely collective and invariably varies across individuals. The research data are consistent with Donald Black's theory of moralism. Black's theory, based on his theoretical system known as pure sociology, predicts that ethnic hostility increases with the social inferiority and cultural distance of the immigrant, and that higher status immigrants are more assertive in responding to hostility, though they experience less of it (the status paradox).     

Exploring How National Politics Influences the Outcome of Intergroup Contact among Muslim Minority Members

This article adds to the existing research in intergroup contact among ethnic minority members by hypothesizing that national political debate has the capacity to enhance the positive outcomes of cross‐group interaction. Analyses show that the capacity of intergroup contact to reduce prejudice toward majority members is disproportionately stronger among Muslims than among non‐Muslim minority members. Specifically, at the time of data collection, the two categories—Muslims and majority members—were highly salient in the public debate, whereas the non‐Muslim minority member category was not primed as a contrast to the majority culture. The political debate most likely stimulated Muslims to generalize their positive contact experiences to the entire majority group. The analysis contributes to the theoretical refinement of the so‐called categorization model by focusing on politically induced reactions among contacted ethnic minority members toward majority members. The analysis utilizes a tailor‐made national sample (fielded during the Mohammad Cartoon Crisis in 2006) among ethnic minority members in Denmark (N  = 3,272).     

Organizations,coalitions, and movements

This article uses empirical evidence on networks of voluntary organizations mobilizing on ethnic minority, environmental, and social exclusion issues in two British cities, to differentiate between social movement processes and other, cognate collective action dynamics. Social movement processes are identified as the building and reproducing of dense informal networks between a multiplicity of actors, sharing a collective identity, and engaged in social and/or political conflict. They are contrasted to coalitional processes, where alliances to achieve specific goals are not backed by significant identity links, and organizational processes, where collective action takes place mostly in reference to specific organizations rather than broader, looser networks.     

Some Issues of Ethnic and Religious Identity among China's Islamic Peoples

The paper considers the growth of identity among Muslim ethnic groups in China, especially the Sinic people called the Hui. It asks whether this identity springs primarily from ethnicity or religion. While affirming that Islam has grown in influence in China since the 1980s, the paper argues in favour of seeing the balance more strongly in favour of ethnicity. The paper also discusses the impact of the September 11 Incidents on Muslims in China. Addressing the issue in terms of ethnicity and religion, it discusses the ramifications of the recognition of the Uygur-based East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a terrorist organisation by the US and United Nations. It explores important issues relating to morality and human rights and concludes that the Chinese have cause to worry about separatist terrorism based on Islamic fundamentalism in southern Xinjiang, but criticises using recognition of ETIM as terrorist as a weapon against the general religion of Islam or against Uygur identity.     

Identity Patterns among Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel: Assimilation vs. Ethnic Formation

This paper deals with identity patterns among the 1990s immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel. It presents the complex set of identity types among immigrants in the context of their cultural and socio-demographic characteristics and their dynamic relationships with the Israeli host society.
The findings show that immigrants from the FSU in Israel form a distinct ethnic group within the Israeli social and cultural fabric. This is reflected in their closed social networks, ethnic information sources, strong desire to maintain ethnic-cultural continuity, and the fact that the ethnic component (Jew from the FSU or immigrant from the FSU) is central for self-identification. However, ethnic formation among these immigrants is not a reactive-oriented identity, which is mainly generated by alienation from the host society, it is rather an instrumentalized ethnicity, which is the outcome of ethnic-cultural pride and pragmatic considerations.     

The influence of ethnic identity on drug use among ethnic minority adolescents

Ethnic identity is a significant factor related to self-concept and psychological development and similar to other aspects of identity, is of particular importance during the adolescent years when there is increased vulnerability to drug involvement. However, much of the research relative to adolescent drug use has focused on the annual and current prevalence rates among particular ethnic groups with little attention to ethnic or group identity issues. However, it is important to study and compare ethnic and group identity and its correlates to drug use. This article presents face-to-face interview questionnaire measures of ethnic identity as measured by affirmation and belongingness, ethnic identity achievement, ethnic behavior, and other group orientation [1], and drug use as measured by misuse, abuse, and chemical dependency diagnoses [2]. The questionnaires were administered to 127 (60 Ethnic, 67 White) adolescents from ethnically diverse schools in a large urban school district in the Pacific Northwest. The relationship of ethnic identity to drug use was examined. This study indicates that the questionnaire measures can be used to examine similarities and differences in ethnic identity and drug use among adolescents from different ethnic groups. A key finding of this study was that white adolescents scored lower in ethnic identity than did members of the four ethnic minority groups and the mixed racial group. However, the most significant key finding was that in the ethnic minority sample high levels of cultural identity were associated with heavy drug use. The results of this study suggest that social influences may play a larger role in the development of heavy drug use irrespective of the nature and origins of these social influences.     

Situation and ethnic identity

This paper illustrates situational variation as regards ethnic identification and develops some ideas about identity formation and the expression of ethnic identity in multiple ethnic contexts. The author discusses both social (ethnic) identity and subjective social identity (self-identifications). The author shows how expressions of ethnic origin and identification vary with changes in a number of hypothetical situational settings, explained in terms of a combination of the present and the past. The material consists of interview data from 110 Turks and 114 Yugoslavs aged 16-24, selected randomly, in Stockholm, Sweden. The 1st interview question asked of the Turks and Yugoslavs is how they would describe where they came from in several hypothetical situations. Answers vary more by place asked than by person asking. A tendency exists to relate oneself positively to the person asking, by stressing commonalities. The 2nd question was "To whom do you think you most strongly belong?" Answers show that these immigrants primarily relate themselves to their own ethnic groups and to Swedes, while other immigrant groups in Sweden are less important. The final question was "How would you feel if someone here in Sweden told you that you seem to be just like other Swedes?" The most usual answer is that it does not matter. Both Turks and Yugoslavs would appreciate the statements more from a Swede than a compatriot, and the Turks would become more angry than the Yugoslavs if a compatriot said it. Turks have preserved more ethnic and traditional lifestyles, lack close ties to the Swedes, and experience greater social distance to Swedes. Migrants often develop complex multiple identities, and situational variation, at least in part, can be understood as a competence for living with and making use of this complexity. The article concludes with a typology that illustrates how the interplay between the past and the present creates more or less complex patterns of identification, so that a person cannot express more than parts of his or her identifications in a given concrete situation.     

Stigmatized Identities: Too Muslim to Be American,Too American to Be Muslim

In the United States today, Muslim identity is highly stigmatized. Much of this can be attributed to an increasing climate of Islamophobia. The current study finds that some Muslim Americans are confronted with another source of stigma: other Muslims. Using interview data with 23 Muslim Americans in and around Houston, TX, this study examines the intersection of religious out‐group and in‐group stigma in the lives of Muslim Americans. Findings suggest that stigma comes not only from non‐Muslims, but also from other Muslims. Some Muslim Americans are especially vulnerable to religious in‐group stigma. Those who are most acculturated to non‐Muslim, Western culture often face criticism from Muslim communities, be they inside or outside the United States. These Muslim Americans find that they are not perceived as fully Muslim or fully American, and therefore denied the full benefits of either status while simultaneously bearing the burden of both. This paper articulates the multiple dimensions of stigma faced by Muslims in America.     

Structural versus nonstructural form of social capital: impact of ethnicity along caste and religious dimensions in Indian context

Despite much research work on the effect of social capital or the production of social capital along ethno-linguistic or racial dimensions, there is hardly any study in this line along the much fragmented character of Indian ethnicity. This article studies the impact of ethnicity along caste and religious dimensions on the growth of social capital in the Indian context. A simple theoretical model indicates that individual ethnicity formed out of individuals' separate pairwise connections with people, who are either of the same ethnic dimension or of different ethnic dimensions, is the only factor affecting endogenous social capital growth. Empirical results suggest that all forms of individual social capital are higher for people who are of the same caste or religion. It also shows that individuals' ethnicity with the same caste or religion is the only factor influencing high performance on the productivity of aggregate social capital in general and nonstructural form of social capital in particular.     

Identity reproducers beyond the grassroots: The middle class in the Manchu revival since the 1980s

A diagnosis of the ethnic empowerment fuelled by the Chinese Manchu middle-class elite provides a useful tool for examining the overall Manchu identity revival movement in the 1980s. The strategy of the Manchu middle-class elite has three parts: re-crafting ethnic identity by strengthening networks and cultural differences, pursuing ethnic economic development, and politically legitimating the group existence. This article explores several important questions concerning the strategy. Why is the ethnic middle class keen to provide vigorous leadership in the ethnic identity reconstruction movement? How do the people of this class invest their bitter grievances with new meaning and empower themselves in the process of bargaining and group confrontation with the State? How can they make their ethnic identity more likely to be ‘institutionalised’ into the ethnic mosaic of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the Open and Reform era?     

After ‘ethnicity’: Migration,identity and political economy

In an earlier article¹ I have argued that British ‘African Asians’ can not legitimately be described as an ‘ethnic’ community. This argument was made by means of a critique of sections from the 4th PSI Survey. I show that the attitudinal responses of British ‘African Asians’, as evidenced in the Survey, do not reveal any special emphasis upon the components of ethnicity (religion, skin colour, ‘extra‐British’ origins, ‘racial’ grouping) specified by the Survey's authors and that parental roles in marital decision‐making, thought by the Survey's authors to be important in maintaining ‘ethnic’ boundaries, and their attitudes towards ‘mixed marriages’, are now little different from the majority of Britishers. My chief objection to the ‘ethnicity’ paradigm, incorporating the notion of ‘ethnic identities’, is that, as with all analytical concepts, it inhibits those whom it embraces from inclusion within alternative conceptions: marking individuals and communities as ‘ethnically’ special robs them of parity with their ‘non‐ethnic’ neighbours.

In this article, in opposition to the current vogue for ‘ethnic’ labelling and in sympathy with Robert Miles's well‐known position, I contend that British Gujarati Hindus (who form a majority of British ‘African Asians') should be considered in the same analytical light as any other group of British citizens. The focus of the article is on those members of the Gujarati Hindu Patidar caste (commonly having the surname Patel), who settled first in East Africa and then, often not through their own choice, in Britain. I argue that their caste identity, the dynamics of their migrations and changes to their socioreligious culture are all fully explicable by non‐'ethnic’ political sociology.     

Homeland Interests,Hostland Politics: Politicized Ethnic Identity among Middle Eastern Heritage Groups in the United States1

Why do ethnic diasporas in the United States differ in their readiness for political mobilization on behalf of homeland interests? This study develops a tiered model of politicized ethnic identity emphasizing both individual‐level traits and group/collective properties. Using Zogby “Culture Polls,” the theory is tested on three Middle Eastern heritage groups in the United States (Jews, Arab Christians, Arab Muslims). Empirical analysis confirms that individuals differ in their readiness for mobilization around Middle East issues based on the strength of ties to the ethnic community and, net of such differences, each group varies based on the contexts of exit and reception it faced at the time of immigration. The findings suggest that studies of diaspora influence on American foreign policy need to take account of the mass base rather than focus exclusively on elite behavior.     

The effects of migration on the establishment of networks: caste disintegration and reformation among the Indians of Fiji

"This article focuses on how migration auspices affect the formation of migrant networks and ethnic communities. Using ethnographic data and migration histories to focus on caste ?reformation' in the subcommunities of the Indians of Fiji, the ability to reestablish and maintain subcaste group ?extensions' in Fiji is shown as directly related to the migration auspices that originally established the community. By determining the characteristics of migrants, the reason for migrating, and the magnitude and duration of migration streams, migration auspices define a migration type. This migration type affects the strength and density of social ties present in migration streams. It also affects the strength and density of network ties that members of a migrant community can establish in a receiving society."     

Media, Racism and Islamophobia: The Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media

This article examines the representation of Islam and Muslims in the British press. It suggests that British Muslims are portrayed as an 'alien other' within the media. It suggests that this misrepresenatation can be linked to the development of a 'racism', namely, Islamphobia that has its roots in cultural representations of the 'other'. In order to develop this arguement, the article provies a summary/overview of how ethnic minorities have been represented in the British press and argues that the treatment of British Muslims and Islam follows these themes of 'deviance' and 'un-Britishness'.     

Securitized citizens: Islamophobia,racism and the 7/7 London bombings

The London bombings of 7 July 2005 were a major event shaping the relationship between Muslims and non‐Muslims in Britain. In this paper we introduce the idea of ‘securitized citizens’ to analyse the changing relationship between British Muslims and wider British society in response to this and similar events. Through an analysis of qualitative interviews with Muslims and non‐Muslims of a variety of ethnic backgrounds in the areas where the London bombers lived in West Yorkshire we examine the popular perceptions of non‐Muslims and Muslims’ experiences. We show how processes of securitization and racialization have interacted with Islamophobic discourses and identifications, as well as the experiences of Muslims in West Yorkshire after the attacks.