ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that how we see ourselves, how we understand the nature of our group and how we define our relations to others tend to be different in different settings. It develops these ideas by focusing on referent selection, group essentialism and category relations in different settings. Our main focus in these studies is on the accomplishment and manifestation of ethnic identity in verbal interactions – that is, on the accounts of the relationships between self and others, and of the position of different groups. Ethnic minority members may feel pressure to adhere to certain norms of behaviour and discourses about ethnic authenticity that come from co-ethnics. Social identity theory was developed for analysing group behaviours when a comparison out-group is salient. Psychological essentialism is a claim about human perception and reasoning; in relation to ethnicity and race, essentialist thinking is predominantly examined in terms of racism, discrimination and the justification of the status quo.
