Names, Labels, and Identities

Sociopolitical Contexts and the Question of Ethnic Categorization

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7802192
AutoresWilliam Safran (University of Colorado Boulder, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen15
Número4
Páginas437-461
Fecha de publicación2008-07-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaIdentities (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1070-289X • E-ISSN: 1547-3384
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10702890802201743
OpenAlexW2088825591
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas21

This article addresses a relatively unexplored topic: the meaning and use of names and labels for ethnies and nations. It has been said (by Anthony Smith and others) that a nation is a “named” ethnic community. In the same sense, an ethnie is a “named” categoric group. The labeling of an ethnic or national categoric group by the group is often a self-conscious political act of identification reflecting its image and self-image and serving a variety of purposes: the achievement of collective self-respect, self-legitimation, adaptation and assimilation, differentiation, and self-exclusion, just as labeling by others is associated with legitimation or de-legitimation and positive or negative discrimination. The assigning of ethnonyms is a function of the sociopolitical context, ideology, and public policy

Categorization · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Ideology · Legitimation · Meaning (existential · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Psychology · Social Psychology