Lumpers or splitters: analytic and political choices in studying colour lines and colour scales

Michael Banton's elegant, wide-ranging, fascinating essay (Banton 2011) could lead a commentator in many directions -- historical, cultural, analytic, normative, geographic -- so any choice of focus is in part arbitrary. I will address just one of the questions emerging from his observations: w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethnic and racial studies 2012-07, Vol.35 (7), p.1132-1136
Main Author: Hochschild, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ethnicity
Human Relations
Measurement
Methodological Problems
Race
Race relations
Social Scientists
Social theory
Society
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Summary:Michael Banton's elegant, wide-ranging, fascinating essay (Banton 2011) could lead a commentator in many directions -- historical, cultural, analytic, normative, geographic -- so any choice of focus is in part arbitrary. I will address just one of the questions emerging from his observations: when is it appropriate for a social scientist to focus on complexity and the multifaceted nature of human relations, and when instead should one focus on a single central dimension that is understood to shape much of those relations? Colloquially, when should social scientists be lumpers and when splitters? Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0141-9870
1466-4356
DOI:10.1080/01419870.2011.645847