ABSTRACT
Personal acquaintances are frequently excepted from stereotypically founded prejudice, and many networks in all the main social fields are based on a variety of non-ethnic criteria. This chapter shows ways in which group cleavages and relevant social boundaries can be conceptualised along non-ethnic lines, and also indicates in which way the compass of these classifications is increasing in scope and social importance. The nationalist slogan 'unity in diversity' denotes a sharp distinction between public and private fields, implying that interethnic compromises or non-ethnic modes of organisation are required in every context perceived as public, that is conceptually linked with the interests of the Mauritian people as a whole. The act of falling in love seems to be an independent variable in this regard, but the realisation of their marriage was, as the people have seen, dependent on other factors that might not have been present.
