Lecture 3:

         Understanding xenophobia and ethnocentrism through the `us' vs. `them' distinction



                                         `us' versus `them'

n    In-group (our group): a group one identifies with

n    Out-group (the other group): a group one does not identify with

n    A tendency to privilege ingroup members over outgroup members

                              Group identity and inter-group behaviour

n    Sherif's idea of realistic inter-group conflict

n    To understand the Q basis of inter-group discrimination

n    Social identity theory (1979: Tajfel & Turner) = theory of inter-group behaviour





                                  Studies of inter-group behaviour

n    Social identity theory (3 elements):

n    1. Identification (personal and social identity)

n    2. Social comparison

n    3. Social categorisation

n    `ingroup bias'

n    `outgroup homogeneity bias'

                                             Stereotype

n     Ordering chaos of the world & categorising

n     Simplification

n     Generalisation

n     Exaggeration

n     Negative (Scots are stingy, Montenegrins are lazy) and positive (Italians are romantic,
Germans are diligent etc.)

n     National stereotypes: autostereotypes, heterostereotypes, metastereotypes

                                             Prejudice

n    The process of pre-judging somebody or something

n    A value judgement made without any verification and without empirical base in reality

n    Based on generalised and stereotypical images and judgements, simplified

n    Very resilient to change

                                     Next week's reading list:

n      From "Xenophobia and Post-Socialism" (Pajnik, 2002) read Tonči Kuzmanić `Post-socialism,
racism and the reinvention of politics' (pp. 17-25)

n      From the "Racism" Oxford reader (Bulmer & Solomos, 1999) read Reginald Horsman `Superior and
Inferior Races'; Michael Biddiss `Gobineau and the Origins of European racism'; Leon Poliakov
`Gobineau and His Contemporaries'

n      From "The Ethnicity Reader" (Guibernau & Rex, 1997) read Michel Wieviorka `Racism in Europe:
Unity and diversity'

n      Select at your own will but read 10-15 pages!