Ethnonational Classification in Eastern Europe

PWP-CCPR-2004-008

Abstract

This paper considers three common theoretical perspectives that explain how and why
actors classify individuals. First, cultural theories suggest that characteristics such as language
and shared histories help actors to make social, and in particular, ethnonational classifications. Second, theories of race and ethnicity expand on cultural theories, by noting that such characteristics can be used for external or internal classification of individuals. Finally, theories of nationalism predict that the presence of a bordering state can heighten ethnic tensions,  thereby sharpening social classifications, especially given a history of political domination. Survey data from Eastern Europe, and in particular, the difference between interview and self-reports of ethnonationalism, provide support for theories of race and ethnicity and cultural theories. The data exhibit sharp differences between internal and external processes of classification, in support of theories of race and ethnicity, and show that language is an important tool of classification, in support of cultural theories. In contrast, theories of nationalism explain few of the patterns in these data.