Contested Citizenship: The Dynamics of Racial Identity and Social Movements

While scholarly discussions of citizenship, social movements and racial identity-formation have generally remained distinct, these social institutions and processes are intimately connected. Official policies of exclusion from citizenship according to race have drawn boundaries solidifying subordina...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International review of social history 1995-12, Vol.40 (S3), p.159-183
Main Author: Marx, Anthony W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Brazil
Citizenship
Civil rights
Civil rights movements
Collective action
Ethnicity
Group identity
Identity
Political identity
Political mobilization
Political protests
Racial identity
Segregation
Social movements
South Africa
U.S.A
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Summary:While scholarly discussions of citizenship, social movements and racial identity-formation have generally remained distinct, these social institutions and processes are intimately connected. Official policies of exclusion from citizenship according to race have drawn boundaries solidifying subordinated racial identity, which then forms the basis for collective action in response to shifting state policies. Forms of domination are thus two-edged; exclusion of officially specified groups has the unintended consequence of defining, legitimating and provoking group identity and mobilization, forging struggles for inclusion between state agents and emerging political actors. This dynamic has generally been overlooked by those theorists of social movements, who have focused on relative deprivation, resource mobilization and responses to political opportunities, without explaining the related process of identity formation.
ISSN:0020-8590
1469-512X
DOI:10.1017/S002085900011363X