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what is a Malay? situational selection of ethnic identity in a plural society
Author(s) -
NAGATA JUDITH A.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1974.1.2.02a00080
Subject(s) - ethnic group , cultural assimilation , plural , malay , situational ethics , identity (music) , sociology , gender studies , assimilation (phonology) , social psychology , anthropology , psychology , linguistics , aesthetics , philosophy
Most studies to date of ethnic relations, ethnic boundaries, and criteria used to define ethnic status have been biased toward a particular “assimilationist” model drawn from experience in North America, Australia, etc. These have generally assumed that there is some dominant or ethnically “neutral” area of culture by whose standards all “ethnics” can be judged, and that ethnic identity normally changes in one direction only. This paper examines the case of a plural society in which there is no clear dominant or neutral culture, and in which continuous oscillation of ethnic status occurs without direct assimilation.