| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Ethnic identification is made possible by two main factors: the history of immigration and the diversity within the receiving country. Ethnic identification groups are formed for various reasons including political strength, emotional and financial support in adjustment, or even just finding people who have similar backgrounds. Max Weber (1978/1996) wrote,
Weber’s theory of ethnic group formation reflects how people identify themselves through perceived notions of groupness and commonality. However, as Lowe (1996) argued, there is intragroup diversity that allows for multiple ways in which people choose and do not choose to identify themselves as part of the ethnic group. On the flip side, the notion that particular criteria of authenticity must be satisfied precludes some people from being admitted to the group. Therefore, I would modify Weber’s theory to argue that common descent is imperative in gaining admission into the ethnic group, but the demonstration of ethnicity is what earns people admittance.
Clifford Geertz (1963) indicated that ethnic groupings occur through “primordial ties” and that “some attachments seem to flow more from a sense of natural—some would say spiritual—affinity than from social interaction” (p. 110). Some of these are assumed blood ties, race, language, region, religion, and custom. While primordialism has lost ground in favor of more complex concepts of identity formation, especially within the framework of globalization and global networks (Appadurai, 1996; Meyer & Geschiere, 1999; Ong, 1999), interestingly enough, the primordial ties described by Geertz are the very markers to which people revert back as a way of indexing their ethnicity.