Ethnic conflict without ethnic groups

A Study in Pure Sociology1

Bibliographic Data

ID5614971
AuthorsM Cooney (0000-0002-6758-3330, University of Georgia, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume60
Issue3
Pages473-492
Publication date2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01252.x
PMID19703171
OpenAlexW1512086140
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited26

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

Ethnic conflict · Ethnic group · Sociology · Anthropology · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Religion and Society Interactions